2021 Chateau Massiac - Minervois (750ml)

Château Massiac sits on ground farmed since Roman times, when the nearby port of Narbonne first connected this stretch of Languedoc to the wider Mediterranean world. The estate's name comes from two brothers who arrived from Massiac, in the Auvergne, in the seventeenth century while serving the King of Spain, settling on a spot roughly halfway between the villages of Azille and Rieux-Minervois. The original château was destroyed during the French Revolution, and the property lay dormant for generations until Bernard Boudouresques and his family replanted the vineyards and converted the estate to organic farming, restoring its twenty-one and a half hectares to production.

This is Massiac's flagship red, made to be the estate's most serious, age-worthy wine, built primarily around Syrah and Carignan in the appellation's classic style. The grapes are picked at a point of slight overripeness to capture the scents of the surrounding garrigue-covered hillsides, then macerate for at least a month before the wine is racked off to tank for further aging. Unlike Massiac's earlier-drinking cuvées, this bottling stays at the estate for twenty to twenty-four months after harvest before release.

The 2021 opens with the wild, herbal character typical of the region, showing juniper, rosemary, and thyme alongside savory wild berry fruit and a faint, gamey edge as it develops in the glass. The palate is structured and built to last, with firm tannins framing dark fruit and garrigue spice through a long finish. It pairs beautifully with duck confit, braised wild boar, or a well-aged sheep's milk cheese.