Jancis Robinson reviews of our red wines
These reviews form part of a large tasting of Languedoc-Roussillon wines which are published on Jancis' Purple Pages website (membership required) and in the Financial Times.
Treloar, Tahi 2015 Côtes du Roussillon
17
60% Syrah, 25% Mourvèdre, 15% Grenache on a rare limestone hillside called Le Roubau, 150–200 m. Yields 24 hl/ha. Hand-picked. 24 months in French oak, 40% new, 450-litre barrels. Very low SO2 additions. 2,500 bottles. Compact, dry and combative. There is a little VA on the nose – furniture polish more than acetone – but some damsons and newly tanned leather as well. Very chewy. Earth and mushrooms and cooked damsons. Sweetness and connectedness. Coffee and wild-berry jam and dried sage. But for all the concentration there is this beautiful cool line of freshness. Needs food and a bit more time. (TC)
Treloar, Le Rescapé Carignan 2016 IGP Côtes Catalanes
17
100% Carignan, 50% from 75-year-old vines on clay-limestone soils from the middle of the cru Aspres, 50% from 40-year-old vines on black schist from Forca real. Yields 15 hl/ha. 2,000 bottles. Organic viticulture, natural insect defences, no herbicides. Hand-picked. 30% carbonic maceration, 70% traditional fermentation with 20% whole bunch. 12 months in old French oak. No fining. TA 3.4 g/l, pH 3.54, RS <0.4 g/l. Total S)2 45 mg/l. 2,000 bottles. Green, not-quite-minty spice that comes from fragrant dried herbs. Rugged, tousled, but bursting with fruit. As if it just clambered out of a tent, having been camping in the mountains without a brush for two weeks. Very far from polished and yet super-cool, uber-easy and utterly delicious. GV (TC)
Treloar, One Block Grenache 2017 Côtes du Roussillon
16.5
80% Grenache Noir, 15% Lledoner Pelut, 5% Syrah. Old vines, 45–65 years at 200–250 m above sea level. Yields 18 hl/ha. Hand-picked, aged in tank and used French oak barriques for 12 months. RS <1 g/l, pH 3.75, TA 2.5 g/l. Total SO2 30 mg/l. Unfined. 2,200 bottles. Chocolate and leather. Roasted meatiness, dense red fruit and Christmas cake spices. Muscular, purposeful wine. A taut wire of brushed steel through the finish. Hot-climate Grenache yet with singular finesse. GV (TC)
Treloar, Three Peaks 2017 Côtes du Roussillon
16.5
75% Syrah, 13% Mourvèdre, 12% Grenache on clay-limestone soils. Yields 25 hl/ha. Hand-picked, traditional fermentation. Aged for 12 month in tanks and old oak. TA 3.3 g/l, pH 3.76, RS <0.4 g/l. Total SO2 43 mg/l. Unfined but very loosely filtered. Big purple nose, some boudin noir and iron underlying the fruit. You can taste the iron (should be a tonic for the anaemic!) but the fruit tastes redder and sharper and with much more tang than on the nose. Tamarind, membrillo, roasted morels and woodland humus. Mouth-watering freshness. Dry tannins that feel like well-brewed tea leaves. So whole, so substantial without heaviness that it feels like you should have a glass of this a day for the sake of your health. GV (TC)
Treloar, Motus Mourvèdre 2015 Côtes du Roussillon
16.5
80% Mourvèdre, 10% Syrah, 10% Grenache on clay-limestone soils at 150–200 m above sea level in cru Aspres. Hand-picked. Yields 25 hl/ha. Traditional fermentation, no additives or fining. 12 months in oak. TA 3.02 g/l, pH 3.6, RS <0.4 g/l. Total SO2 37 mg/l. 6,500 bottles. If you've ever made blackberry jam, you'll know what the pan scrapings smell and taste like – almost, but not quite, burnt, thick, sticky, an intensely berried caramel. Smoke and wet tar, petrichor and thunder, dusty bramble berries, pomegranate syrup, Sichuan pepper. Complex, complicated, crunchingly fresh and yet fiercely ripe and concentrated. Not as heavily meaty as most varietal Mourvèdre and with a bracing quality that Mourvèdre rarely achieves, but this is a wine that needs food, and preferably of the red-meat variety. Although porcini or smoked aubergine would do. Big flavours. (TC)
Treloar, Le Ciel Vide 2018 Côtes du Roussillon-Villages
15.5
Named after the Bruce Springsteen song Empty Sky, which, for us expressed most clearly the memories of September 11th. Unoaked. 90% Mourvèdre, 10% Grenache. Hand-picked. Traditional fermentation for three weeks. Aged in tanks for 15 months. Minimal SO2 additions (total 46 mg/l). TA 2.9 g/l, pH 3.68, RS 1.1 g/l. A sticky-solid aroma of Bovril and damson jam. That's Mourvèdre for you! Chunky, meshed thick with stemmy tannins, with an almost wasabi-like lift of rough-ground pepper. Rustic and robust. (TC)
