Heroes of the Hérault

Adventures In Wine

After a long summer break, Jason, the man with 'the most embarrassing recycling box in the street,' is ready to pile on even more embarrassment for the furtherance of oenological knowledge and David is more than willing to help him. With their feet firmly under Jason's kitchen table and ISO wine glasses under their noses, Jason whisks the pair of them away to the Languedoc, on a virtual tour of the Hérault with no more than a few deft twists of his corkscrew. Here, they enthuse over Xavier Bruguière's stone-fruit, 2017 Coteaux Du Languedoc, as fragrant as the mulberry after which it's named and his herby, berry-scented 2017 Pic Saint-Loup. 'Untamed,' says Jason, mentioning Myrtle in almost the same breath. 'Very, very nice indeed,' avers David, his head swimming already. Eighteen kilometres South and West is the famous Terrasses Du Larzac, home of Frédéric Pourtalié's 22 hectare plot, whose white 2016 Domaine Montcalmès is as rare as it is elegant. Pourtalié's 2016 red is young, but happily for our two adventurers, drinking from the off. Decant it and you could be drinking Chateauneuf-Du-Pape. After that, a sampling of Grange Des Pères, Terrasses Du Larzac's most famous wine, is unavoidable and Jason has pulled the cork on Laurent Vaillées beautifully balanced 2016 blend before you can say... well, what can you say when confronted by a masterpiece?