Domaine de Baron’arques 2010

No great surprise that a wine from the owners of Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Napa legend Opus One is a serious wine that is made for aging. Bordeaux varieties merlot, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc have been blended with Southern French varieties grenache, syrah and malbec to craft a deeply flavoured and structured wine.

This wine needs air and took a couple of days to come around. But once it got there it delivered plenty. It is highly complex showing both the dried herb, cedar and blackcurrant fruit aromas of Bordeaux with Southern French olive tapenade and spice. There is also tarry and meaty complexity, and spicy oak, to round out the package. This all is followed up by a robust and dense palate – lashings of savoury fruit wound up tightly by a firm tannin backbone, and at ten years of age it is also showing some cigar box complexity. The finish is long, muscular and strong delivering both fruit power and balance. A super wine from Limoux in the South of France that has all the hallmarks of a top Grand Cru, albeit in a savoury, rustic style.