I’m just so impressed by the wines of Jean-Claude Mas, from France’s Languedoc. Five of his wines were in yesterday’s Asda Press tasting, and they were all brilliant – he can even make Merlot taste interesting.
The wines show lovely fruit purity, varietal typicity and great balance. They’re modern but not spoofy. And they’re affordable.
This wine is remarkable for the price. If France had 20 Jean-Claudes, they’d have no worries about their wine industry.
Mas de Mas Corbieres 2009 Languedoc, France
14.5% alcohol. A beautifully modern, expressive take on Corbieres, showing sweet, rich blackberry and plum fruit on the nose with some lushness and chocolatey richness. The palate is smooth and concentrated with lush, dense blackberry fruit together with grainy tannins and some silkiness. 90/100 (£7.99 Majestic)
Asda press tasting yet MWW sell it?
Jamie – do you think that as a whole, reds are getting younger and younger when released? Like this wine is only about 8 months old. I’m a little hazy but I thought Corbieres were sort of robust and chunky. So would this wine be “better” in 3 years or so, or do you think it’s already at it’s peak? Is this one aspect of what you mean by “modern”?
Also, what does your term “spoofy” mean? Is it sort of “manufactured” or “messed around with”? Do you think you could always spot a “spoofy” wine blind and are they always intrinsically bad?
Like your comment about Merlot – thought I was the only one out there that struggles with this grape variety. Received wisdom is that it is soft and plummy, but I find it has a strong character, rather like mustard on a ham sandwich and is highly invasive in a blend. What do others think?
Yes, sorry for the lack of clarity – I tasted five of his wines in the Asda press tasting, and this – a sample from Majestic – at home.
Surprisingly young, I agree – clever winemaking to get this wine to such an agreeable stage so early in its life
Hi Jamie, we stock a huge range of Jean Claude Mas wines, one of my favourites being the La Forge Estate Merlot, an amazing wine. Our biggest seller has to be his claude val range, great as an every day drinking wine. He is a great wine producer, prolific, but always produces quality wine…