Villamanda – 2012 – Coteaux du Languedoc

Youthful colour, still marked by an almost black purple core, a little bit of evolution on the rim, quite high viscosity and ripeness. Clean nose, rather intense and ripe, with layers of dark fruit; there’s a fair degree of new oak, but it’s really the fruit that dominates here, we get dark plum, cassis, blackberry, some of the roasted notes from the oak. Very concentrated wine on the palate, high degree of ripeness, high density of fruit, however it’s a very nice extraction, because the tannins are finely integrated, small and grainy, adding to the structure, adding to the length; and the oak is pretty well concealed beneath those layers of ripe dark fruit, we have a lot of fine, sweet spices, pepper. Really finely polished, unctuous, with fine spices, a meaty core, a very long finish again with this concentration, obviously the final is very long with some clove and pepper, almost ginger on the finish. Dense, dense core of those light dark plums and blackberries. It’s obviously a very young wine, because with this density and very high concentration it has the potential to go on for a very long time, but it really doesn’t hurt to drink it now; I think the tannins are well integrated, good treatment of oak as well. Very ambitious, very polished. I find a great potential for this one, and I would like to follow in. Can I have a steak please? Excellent wine, good potential. C’est bon ça!

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