Score: 89+/100
Les Auzines is an estate relatively recently acquired by Languedoc vigneron, Laurent Miquel in the Corbières area.
The vineyard sites here are very unusual for the Corbière appellation, with a much higher altitude than most in the area, rising up on a plateau of 170 hectares. In order to cultivate the soils of this preserved estate in perfect harmony with nature, organic farming has been the obvious choice for decades.
This Cuvée Hautes Terres is a blend of 40% Syrah, 40% Grenache, 20% and Carignan.
After fermentation, the wine was matured and aged in oak barrels for 14 months (2nd and 3rd use).
So how good is Château les Auzines Hautes Terres?
Tasting Notes
This Corbieres red comes with a very bright and dark red a color, intense and colorful as you expect from a modern wine, with just a touch of purple hues.
The nose here is very intense, and brightly fruity, filled with fresh red berry fruit characters: dark cherry, cooked strawberry. Some sweet spices too…
The palate though, gives the full perspective to this wine.
Dry it is, and rather savory, but you get such a kick of ripe and rich red berry fruit flavors, it all seems soft, like a ripe dark cherry.
And OMG is this thing juicy!
Again, like a cherry just picked from the tree, a juicy salivating acidity combined with some drying tannins fill up the palate’s texture, before the fruit flavors explode in your mouth…
Then a wealth of ginger bread spices come in to play, underlining to fruitiness to boosting it further, while a clear saltiness also comes along.
Clearly, the secret to this wine’s juiciness and attractivity is its saltiness.
Like a bitter chocolate becomes so enjoyable and addictive with a pinch of salt, in this Crobieres, the ripe cherry fruit, slight greenness, bitterness, some granulous tannins, and intense sweet spices all come together on your palate to make you salivate to the finish and make you want to please yourself with another juicy glass.
Yes, an 89+/100 because clearly, it’s close to 90/100 wine even on an absolute scale, just lacking a touch of extra concentration and depth for it.
But if we were talking about the pure pleasure it provides and hedonistic enjoyment, it would be, to me anyway, well above this bar.
A wine to experience it is…
Enjoy 🙂
Check Out my Last Visit at Laurent Miquel in Video
Please let me know your thoughts