The Daumas Gassac primeur offer arrives. The nights are drawing in. Streets are awash with, apparently, unwanted conkers. Yes people: Autumn walks amongst us.
There is a slight problem this year. Leaves began a fallin' back in July with temperatures and rain to match. We now face the prospect of Autumn being far warmer than summer.
Mas de Daumas Gassac red and white, particularly the red, is surely the best value wine in the world. For £20ish you can a cabernet based Bordeaux style blend that often rivals many wines costing fives times the price. And what of this year's vintage for the red?
2006 was yet another unique year in the Gassac valley. A hot July, cool August and windy September has produced exceptionally low yields of juice in the grapes this year. That means that the wine will be even richer than it usually is. Even in a so-so vintage, the yield is around 35 Hectolitres per Hectare. This is equivalent to the kind of concentration found in many Grand Cru Burgundies.
The mesoclimate of the valley means typically hot Languedoc summer days, but distinctly parky nights. Roasting days of 30 Celsius and nights of a chilly 3 degrees were the order of the day when I worked as a harvester there in 2003. That was after the heat wave, of course.
Although concentrated, Gassac is a wine defined by its elegance and ability to age superbly. You do a lot worse than buying some. I know we will be.
Check out the Daumas Gassac website for more info.
http://www.daumas-gassac.com/
Get well soon Pavarotti.
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