Domaine d'Aubaret Réserve Merlot 2006

Tasting note
Colour - Deep scarlet hue.

Aroma - Ripe plum, cassis and tobacco.

Taste - Succulent ripe berry and plum fruit with a dark chocolaty edge covering a firm structure of rounded tannins.

	Type:Still Red Wine		Country:France		Appellation:Côtes de Thongue VdP
	Grape Type:Merlot		Drink Before:End of 2009		Body:Medium Bodied
	Alcohol:13%		Bottle Size:75cl		Bottle Code:60830

Description
Never heard of the Côtes de Thongue? It's a small vin de pays which covers the vineyards in the valley of the Thongue, to the west of Pézenas in the Hérault department of the Languedoc. There you will find Domaine d'Aubaret, the property of the hugely progressive and quality-focussed Bonfils family, who own a number of premium estates in the Languedoc-Roussillon and also a couple in Bordeaux.

Domaine d'Aubaret lies in the appellation of Faugères, with Jerôme Bonfils acting as the viticulteur and his brother Olivier as winemaker. As this wine is pure Merlot, it is not entitled to the Faugères appellation status. However, this superb, oak-aged Merlot far outstrips its humble vin de pays status.

Jerome believes Merlot performs much better on the property's clay and limestone slopes than the Faugères appellation's preferred Syrah, Grenache and Carignan grapes. So he happily grows Merlot, but must label the wine vin de pays!

All the fruit comes from low-yielding vines, some of which are up to 35 years old, so concentration of flavour is intense. After a traditional fermentation, a portion of the wine is put into French oak casks to lend an extra layer of subtle toasty complexity. This is a powerful Languedoc Merlot thanks to the age of the vines and their fine Faugères terroir.