Mas Amiel - Origine 2017

Bettane & Desseauve

About the wine:

Aged in tuns, this dense, rather tight wine needs aeration to open out. Lots of fruit and freshness, spices and aromatic herbs. Made to be served at the table, it will work wonders with characterful dishes such as game.

About the domain :

In Maury, Mas Amiel boasts 150 hectares of vines in production, spread over 132 parcels, dominated by the Cathar château of Quéribus. Olivier Decelle (also owner of Château Jean Faure in Saint-Émilion) has worked as a patron of the arts, gradually restoring the estate to a perfect state of production, assisted since 2007 by Nicolas Raffy, a lover of the land. With the conversion to biodynamic viticulture, the expression of the wines will certainly evolve further in the years to come. While natural sweet wines have not been abandoned, far from it, the emphasis has been placed on the production of very modern dry wines, with a wide range covering all styles. An unmissable source!

Robert Parker - Wine Advocate

About the wine:

The 2017 Côtes 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 seems a little hard and tight. It's full-bodied, with lovely notes of garrigue and black cherry, with dry, crisp fruit and dry, schisty tannins on the finish. Give it another year in bottle to mellow.

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About the domain :

In the heart of the Maury terroir, at the foot of the hillside, a large building and rows of demi jeannes in which nectars age for a year in the sun, before moving on to the tuns for decades. Mas Amiel, the first born of the Olivier Decelle galaxy, is a page in Roussillon history. An estate that celebrates the tradition of great natural sweet wines, while renewing itself in dry wines, with a refined, sanguine and very precise style, supported by a heritage of old vines. Nicolas Raffy, a talented Catalan winemaker, raises the bar for wines made from calcoschists, black marl and granite. He has identified steep plots, and adapted his blends, ageing and harvest dates so that the dry Maury wines join the VDNs at the top. Today, the domaine is unquestionably one of the great references. In recent years, progress on the dry side has been spectacular. The third star is approaching.

James Suckling