Appellation: Vin de Pays de L’Herault
55% Syrah, 22% Grenache, 16% Mourvedre, and 7% Cabernet Franc.
The conventionally-grown grapes for Mas Laval are hand-harvested and the long fermentation uses only indigenous yeasts. The wine is aged 18 months in one-year old French oak barrels and is bottled without filtration.
Wine & Spirits June, 2011 – 92 pts 2005 Vintage
From Jeb Dunnuck’s March 2012 issue of the Rhone Report:
2006 Mas Laval Vin de Pays de l’Hérault (France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Vin de Pays de l’Hérault) A beautiful Languedoc and the estate’s top wine, the 2006 Mas Laval Vin de Pays de l’Hérault, a blend of 55% Syrah, 22% Grenache, 16% Mourvèdre, and 7% Cabernet Franc, is aged for 18 months in one-year-old French oak barrels. Still youthful and vibrant, yet with hints of more mature fruit characteristics, this opens up in the glass to show ripe plum sauce, seaweed, smoked herbs, and cured meats on the nose. More graphite and an almost mole-like richness comes out with air, and this has brilliant complexity and depth aromatically. On the palate, it is medium to full-bodied and mouth filling, showing plenty of fruit, a balanced, clean profile, and excellent underlying structure. Drinking perfectly now, it should continue to evolve and age gracefully for another 5-6 years. (92 pts.)
