Score/Rating: 94/100 points
The “Carignan” vintage by organic winery Mas des Capitelles aims at representing their love for this grape variety and its history, rooted deep into the terroir of Languedoc.
The cuvée is made exclusively from the estate’s oldest low-yielding Carignan vines. The grapes are sorted on the vine and harvested manually.
The Carignan wine vintage is represented in four different universal languages in reference to the four different processes from which it comes:
- 25% vinified in traditional vinification then aged 24 months in French oak barrels
- 25% in traditional vinification then aged 24 months in tank
- 25% in carbonic maceration then aged 24 months in French oak barrels
- 25% vinified in carbonic maceration then aged 24 months in tank.
This is an unfiltered organic wine made from a biodynamically farmed vineyard, and bottled with a minimum use of sulfites (SO2).
Overall Review Notes & Tasting Impressions
This Languedoc Carignan red from Languedoc certainly comes in as dark a deep red color as you’ll ever come across from a Carignan, for sure!
It is so deep and intense you can hardly see through, if at all. Let’s say Mas des Capitelle Carignan essentially looks black in color…
The nose is somewhat restrained at this stage. This is a very young wine after all. But the aromatic profile captivates nonetheless, and already shows the wine’s concentration and depth.
Profound notes of roasted cocoa come with lively scents of ripe blackberry, elegant vanilla and dark-roasted coffee. There is a sense of subtle earthiness that is typical of Carignan and its Languedoc terroir, that seems to suggest we are here with a genuine and authentic wine.
As I said, a captivating wine, if only to smell at.
The palate reveals an opulence of dry acidity on a smooth mouth-coating silky tannic texture.
The rich generous body catches your senses, while velvety, slightly granulous and edgy tannins tickle your taste buds, always with a sense of utter-concentration and a smooth texture.
Powerful flavors of dark coffee and ripe berries, with a sensation of liveliness herbal character, most probably garrigue, a typical flavor marker of quality Languedoc wines.
Mas des Capitelles Organic Carignan is a huge, massive wine by its concentration, both in flavors and tannic structure. Yet, is feels and tastes somewhat easy to enjoy and appreciate thanks to its dryness and the subtlety of its aromatic expression.
The salivating mineral finish, the imposing salty acidity, and its generous personality makes for an opulent tasting experience, and more importantly, demonstrate this young wine is a fantastically well-crafted vino that will most certainly turn into one of the most marking and remarkable expression of the Carignan grape, give it 3 to 10 years.
Certainly, one of the very most striking expression of the grape I’ve tasted….
Enjoy 🙂
Julien Miquel
Mas des Capitelles Carignan Label Images
Related Mas des Capitelles Wine Review
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