Grange Des Peres 2012/2014 Rouge 750ml

One of the icon estates in the Languedoc, Domaine de la Grange des Peres has made an upfront, sweetly fruited 2012 Grange des Peres that’s already drinking great. Showing lots of garrigue, olive, pepper and sweet dark fruit, it has medium to full-bodied richness, no hard edges and plenty of ripe tannin. Having just had the 1992 (the first vintage), I know this cuvee can age, but there’s certainly no harm in enjoying this vintage in its youth. 

Score: 91 points -- Jeb Dunnuck, RobertParker.com, Apr 2016 

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"A blend of 40% Syrah, 40% Mourvedre and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. Each parcel and variety was vinified and then aged separated for 24 months in barrel before being blended. This wine is a deep red in the glass with a powerful, complex nose. Black jammy fruits, sweet spices and just a hint of cigar box poke through. Similar flavours on the palate with a big mouthfeel and surprisingly silky, soft tannins. Serve this beauty at 16 to 18 degrees after having decanted for an hour or more. Pair it with red meats or game." - Jon Ellison, Marquis Wine Cellars

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Attaining cult wine status is not an easy feat, and certainly not when the odds are stacked against you. Laurent Vaillé has achieved what others thought impossible. Having spent his early career training under such masters as Jean-François Coche-Dury (Meursault), Gérard Chave (Hermitage), and Eloi Durrbach (Domaine Trévallon, Provence), he settled in the l’Hérault of the Languedoc and purchased his own land in 1989, near Aniane. In this area of the region, where the limestone is hard and abundant and the soil poor, no one thought he would ever have any success planting a vineyard on his plot of choice. Though it took dynamite and bulldozing to clear twice the amount of limestone, boulders, and glacial scree that is found in neighboring vineyards, he found a great terroir for his grapes. He did not have to look far to find ideal bud wood, either. He sourced his Syrah, Marsanne, and Roussane cuttings from Gérard Chave and his Cabernet from Domaine Trévallon. Laurent’s South-facing vines get very low yields, normally from twenty to twenty-five hectoliters per hectare. All are pruned in the gobelet style. The simultaneous restraint and power of his wines makes them ideal for aging. As for the skeptics, they are currently eating their words. His area of the Languedoc has since become known to produce some of the greatest wines in the region, with the new appellation of Terrasses du Larzac, of which he is technically part, reaping attention and praise. In his words, “Nature gave us a partition of land. It is up to us to interpret it.”

-- kermitlynch.com