Mas Amiel - Cotes du Roussillon Origine 2017

Wine Region: Languedoc Roussillon - France

Grape: Grenache, Carignan and Syrah

Tasting notes: "The 2017 Cotes du Roussillon Villages Origine combines equal amounts of Grenache (planted in 1914), Carignan (1952) and Syrah (1995). It spent over a year in foudre but still comes across as a bit hard and edgy. It's full-bodied, with attractive notes of garrigue and black cherries, with taut, crunchy fruit and some dry, schistous tannins on the finish."

Expert Ratings: Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 90+ / 100

About the Winery: The 170 ha of Mas Amiel vines are located in the South of France between the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees mountains.

In 1816, a bishop bet one of his plots of land at a gaming table and lost it to Raymond Etienne Amiel. At that time, the property consisted only of 10ha of vines. Destroyed by the phylloxera in 1865, the estate was replanted with American vines and a cellar was built.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Jean Dupuy produced the first natural sweet wine branded Mas Amiel. The estate continued to expand throughout the whole century. In 1999, Olivier Decelle took over Mas Amiel and developed the property into a world-renowned benchmark.