£81.50
Roussanne, Grenache Blanc and Terret off 50- to 80-year-old vines at 350 metres - a white wine from the Hérault built for the dinner table.
Aniseed fennel and garrigue first, with a floral lift of jasmine over the top, and an aromatic intensity that fills the glass before you have lifted it. Lightly golden with silver at the edge. The attack is ample and fleshy, quince and mandarin peel coming through the middle, and then a saline minerality takes hold and runs all the way out to a long, elegant finish with a wisp of smoke on it. Ten months split across new barrel, used barrel, vat and a sandstone egg. A gastronomic wine with something to say in the glass.
Top food pairings:
"The vineyard sits at 350 metres in the middle of the garrigue, facing north-west - which for a white in this part of France is the whole story. It gets the altitude and the cool exposure, so the fruit ripens slowly and keeps its acidity, and you end up with a wine this rich that still tastes fresh."
Domaine de la Dourbie has stood at Canet in the Hérault since 1781, and takes its name from the small river running through the vineyard. The Serin family bought it in 2003 and converted it to organic in 2009, with integrated pest control, pollination, cover cropping and beehives beside the vines. Around 34 hectares across three terroirs, vinified across wooden foudres, stainless steel and terracotta. They are also among the last growers keeping Terret going.
One of the most serious white wines in the Languedoc range and a straight rival to white Burgundy at twice the price. Old vines, four ageing vessels, seven or eight years of life in it, and a third of the blend is a grape almost nobody grows any more.
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