Gerard Bertrand – Le Viala 2012 – Minervois La Livinière

Very youthful colour, dense core, slightly lighter rim but still with that purple flush, high viscosity. Intense nose, a certain degree of complexity already. There’s fine oak in there, some roasted notes, cedar wood. There’s a slight hint of black truffle, ripe dark fruit. Slight hint of complexity I would say, with this evolution and that note of truffle I love. Very pretty on the palate, very concentrated fruit, dense core, fine wood in the background, giving just some lighter roasted notes. Still marked by nice fresh acidity. Tannins are very grainy, very fine. Very multilayered palate, I love this combination of dark red berries with those spices, slightly meaty core, freshness all along the way, the oak is very well integrated, and it’s a very long finish, very colourful, with lots of things going on, and it finishes off with that discreet pepperiness, spiciness and meatiness, with that lovely dark ripe blackberry fruit and a dash of my beloved black truffle that emerged so nicely on the nose. Very complex wine, refined, well made, with a very fine potential for development as well, however I would be very happy drinking this today. Très bon ça.

Tasted by the Best Sommelier of the World, Andreas Larsson.