Handford Wine Mas de Daumas Gassac & Grange des Pères

Tuesday 20th January Sit down Tasting 6.30 pm with James Handford Mw   £95

Aniane is at the eastern end of the Terrasses du Larzac, a high, rocky plateau around Montpeyroux, with it’s own microclimate and hills covered in garrigue herbs,this small village is the home to two producers that have brought the wines of the Languedoc to the world’s attention. In the 1970’s Parisian glove maker Aimé Guibert bought the property and started from scratch with help from his friend the renowned oenologist Emile Peynaud, Guibert started producing long lived fragrant Cabernet Sauvignon of exceptional quality putting Aniane on the wine map. He is best known for his charismatic appearance in wine film Mondovino, rallying against Mondavi’s attempts to invest in the region. In the 1980’s Physiotherapist Laurent Vaillé decided to return to his family home there after getting the wine bug and working at various domaines including Coche Dury, Chave and Trevallon. He set about planting some of the land his father Alain owned very close to Mas de Daumas Gassac and by the mid 1990s was able to release his first vintage, 1992, another Cabernet-based wine grown on high-altitude, stony, clay-limestone soil very similar to that of his neighbour Aimé Guibert. Creating Grange des Pères, a wine which was received rapturously by Robert Parker and has developed into a cult wine, commanding some of the Languedoc's highest prices.

We will taste Mas Daumas Gassac and Grange des Pères from 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 & 2005