A thrilling, blackberry-soaked elixir

2017 Château MarisMany no- and low-sulphur wines are lacklustre, says Matthew Jukes. But this 2017 Château Maris is something else.

Matthew Jukes
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published
in Features

910-Maris-634

2017 Chteau Maris, Savoir Vieillir, Minervois, Languedoc, France £16.99, Waitrose.com.

Robert Eden, vintner and co-owner of Chateau Maris, has lived in France since 1994 after travelling in Australia, Italy, Burgundy, Spain and California, where he worked at a collection of stellar wineries. Since 1997, he has pioneered organic and biodynamic viticulture. As a result his property features a carbon-neutral, hemp-bricked winery that passively consumes carbon dioxide. Savoir Vieillir translates as "understanding how to age".

My featured wine has no added sulphur (sans souffre ajout) and is a red designed by Robert and his collaborator Benjamin Darnault. It is made from mainly syrah grapes with a touch of grenache and it comes from a south-facing vineyard, situated at 300m above sea level, called Les Panels. The soil is a mix of clay, limestone and sandstone, and this plot sits within the hallowed Minervois Cru La Livinire.

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I am not one for falling for trendy "bio" wines and most no- or low-sulphur bottles that appear on my tasting table look lacklustre and often faulty, but this wine is something else. Inky black in colour, with a velvety texture and sensational perfume, this is a thrilling, sooty, plum and blackberry-soaked elixir and it is staggeringly impressive. Only 7,200 bottles were made exclusively for Waitrose. Once customers taste this wine I am certain there will be a stampede to restock, so don't delay.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).

Matthew Jukes
Matthew Jukes

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.  

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’.  He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner. 

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy.  His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.

 

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