Mathouans 2017 Vin de France Carignan St. Martin 1.5L

Only available in Magnum, this is a very limited production Carignan from old vines, planted in 1905! The vineyard is untrained, in the old goblet style, on Gneiss terroir, and harvest is a very scant 5hl/ht or hectoliters per hectare (an average parcel would produce 40hl/ht and industrial can easily exceed 80-100 hl/ht). Grapes are foot tread and fermented in tranconic barrels and then aging is for two years in 228L neutral barrels. I feel there is a big difference between young vine Carignan (0-50 in my opinion), and old vines Carignan in the Languedoc-Roussillon, and this is a great example of the leathery, dark fruit from old Carignan that is not marked by the gamey or brambly notes that are more commonly found with younger Carignan. -EL