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Jancis Robinson MW reviews Domaine Treloar

Treloar, One Block Muscat 2008 Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes 16.5 Drink 2009-2010 100% Muscat Petits Grains. RS 2 g/l, pH 3.3. 3,000 bottles made. A very pure lily blossom scent, heady, with gossamer threads of ginger and white pepper. Translucent fruit, gentle and as softly layered as cherry blossom petals. Delicious. (TC) 12%

Treloar, La Terre Promise 2008 Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes 16.5++ Drink 2010-2015 A field blend of roughly 50% Grenache Gris, 30% Macabeu, 20% Carignan Blanc. The Macabeu comes from five or six rows of small, old gobelet vines. Co-fermented and aged for 12 months in French oak barriques. RS 0.9 g/l, pH 3.3. 900 bottles made (only!) Wild ferment and wild malo. No temperature control. A very smoky nose, savoury and peppery and intriguing. Tight spice - white pepper and allspice - and dried herbs on the palate. A wine with long, elegant, fine-boned structure, softened for a moment by pear, etched with citrus and then a lovely trace of sunflower seeds on the finish. (TC) 12.5%

Treloar, Rosé of Treloar 2009 Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes 16 Drink 2010 100% Syrah. RS 6 g/l, pH 3.4, TA 3.6. 5,000 bottles made. Jon's comment is 'we finally succombed', but his rosé doesn't seem to be such an oh-if-we-have-to kind of wine! The Syrah comes from a young 1-ha block planted just before they bought the domaine. Quite a deep pink - almost more like a pale red wine. Startling blood-range and pomegranate intensity. A dry finish studded with sweet spice. Delicious and the kind of rosé that just begs for a salad of smoked salmon or avocado and bacon outside on the lawn on a hot summer's day. (TC) 11.5%

One Block Grenache 2008 Côtes du Roussillon 17 Drink 2010-2013 80% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 10% Mourvèdre. They sometimes add 2-3% Syrah into the fermentation to blind the colour. RS 1.5 g/l, pH 3.5, TA 3. Aged for 12 months in two- to five-year-old oak barrels and 6,000 bottles made. Smoky with just the merest allusion to chocolate and coffee on the nose; fragrant with fennel and cumin. Jewel-bright fruit, neatly flecked with those same cumin and fennel notes that give it so much character. So fresh! The acidity simply sings through. Tactile. (TC) 13.5%

Three Peaks 2007 Côtes du Roussillon 16.5 Drink 2011-2016 50% Syrah, 30% Mourvèdre, 20% Grenache. RS 1.3 g/l, pH 3.6. 40% aged in French barriques for 12 months, of which 10% are new. No fining but the wine is filtered. Coffee beans, savoury and meaty nose. Big. Bold. Dramatic. There's a great swathe of black fruit, damsons and liquorice, a touch of date loaf. The tannins are very confident and dry, but not drying. Sophisticated. Needs food, or time, as this one takes no prisoners, still tightly clenched. (TC) 13.7%

Le Secret 2007 Côtes du Roussillon 17.5 Drink 2012-2017 Again, mainly Syrah, 12 months in barrique, 65-year-old vines. Blackish crimson and very, very meaty. Bloody almost. The fruit is lavishly ripe and dense, laced with star anise and peppery, coffee depth. Powerful and tight-packed tannins with a lustrous sheen. A wine with glamour and staying power. It certainly makes a statement. (TC) 14%

Le Secret 2006 Côtes du Roussillon 17 Drink 2010-2015 80% Syrah, 10% Mourvèdre, 10% Grenache. RS 1.8 g/l, pH 3.7. 60% is aged in French barriques and 20% is new, for 12 to 15 months. 3,000 bottles made. A gorgeously succulent mulberry and cocoa nose, some liquorice too. Iron-bar tannins but even those fail to contain all that voluptuous fruit. So many layers, of chestnuts, walnuts, tamarind. Highly polished and a real beauty. Gleaming. (TC) 13.7%

Motus 2007 Côtes du Roussillon 17.5 Drink 2012-2017 Motus means 'mum's the word' - meaning there is a poetic interpretation of the appellation rules... a very minor adaptation of course. Mostly Mourvèdre with a little bit of Syrah and Grenache. RS 2 g/l, pH 3.4. 60% of the wine spends 24 months in oak barriques and 20% of that is new. 2,500 bottles made. Black! A lovely nose of early autumn and tobacco, mushrooms and wild berries. Dense, animal, broodingly masculine and framed most emphatically by massive, charcoal-dusted tannins. Spiced, like Christmas cake, and dried black currants. Complex, layered and definitely a wine that needs time - to cellar and savour. (TC) 14%

Tahi 2007 Côtes du Roussillon 17.5+ Drink 2011-2017 Again a blend of about 50% Syrah, 30% Mourvèdre, and 20% Grenache, two years in oak. A papal purple! Lots of liquorice and as beautifully, finely cut as a Saville Row suit. Dense, velvety mulberry ripeness. The tannins are still very youthful and chewy, but supple and promising to hold this all together with effortless elegance. Real ripeness and curve. Hold on to this a bit longer if you can. (TC)

Tahi 2006 Côtes du Roussillon 17 Drink 2010-2016 Tahi means the number one in Maori, and this is the Treloar flagship wine. It's a blend of 50% Syrah, 30% Mourvèdre, and 20% Grenache which spends 24 months in oak barriques, 20% new. RS 2 g/l, pH 3.4. 2,500 bottles made. Rich, brooding cassis on the nose with an overlay of char. Chocolate and cumin seed nestle in against black fruit. Powerful weight, exacting and smoothly cut. Glistening with life and very modern. (TC) 13.8%


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