Winemaker Notes
Dark fruits, blackcurrants, blackberries, and notes of white flowers and licorice. Decadent. Can be cellared for at least 10 years. This calls for a Cassoulet or a Chateaubriand.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I tasted the Syrah-dominated 2016 Minervois la Liviniere les Amandiers twice during my trip, once at the estate and once at the CIVL. And on both occasions, I had some concerns about the level of oak (it's aged in 100% new barriques from Radoux). There's no doubting the quality of the blueberry-tinged fruit going into this cuvée, and there's even some peppery spice for complexity. The tannins are ripe, the wine is creamy through the mid-palate and it shows good length on the finish. If all of the vanilla and cedar notes integrate over time, my rating could end up looking stingy, but I'd rather be conservative with a wine like this. Rating:90-93
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Wine Enthusiast
Rich and elegant on the nose, this bottling offers sensational aromas of blackberry and vanilla. The structure is firm with supple tannin and balanced acid. Vibrant flavors of black plum, cracked black pepper and garrigue form the palate. The wine drinks nicely now.
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Wine & Spirits
From a 2.5-acre patch of biodynamically farmed old-vine syrah, this is tight and chewy, the concentrated fruit wrapped in the caramel notes of the new barrels that held it for 16 months. Give it hours of air to let those oaky notes turn floral and spicy, toward hightoned cedar scents that bring out the red side of the fruit. Time in the cellar, or a long decant, will let the structure relax and the fruit flow.
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Wine Spectator
Open-knit, with good concentration to the blackberry reduction and crushed plum notes, accented by olive, mocha and black tea details. Fresh acidity binds all the elements through the finish, infused with dried herb, graphite and spice hints. Drink now through 2025.
Chateau Maris is the vision of Englishman Robert Eden, who emigrated to France over 20 years ago to pursue his dream of crafting wines that reflect, rather than mask the land on which the grapes are grown. Robert's approach to winemaking is based on the fundamental premise that wine is "grown", not "made".
To craft wines that reveal the true character of the land, Chateau Maris strictly adheres to biodynamics, which is in effect a supercharged system of organic farming. Similar to organic farming, biodynamics adopts a holistic approach that views the entire vineyard as a living system that is impacted by its surroundings. Biodynamics seeks to encourage vitality in the vineyard by introducing live matter into the soil through intensive composting. In addition, biodynamics places a strong emphasis on harnessing naturally occurring cycles.
The entire estate is certified Organic as well as certified Biodynamic, using homeopathic preparations instead of chemicals on its land. The cellar itself is the only building in existence constructed entirely with hemp blocks and contains no paint, no plastic, no chemicals. Thanks to the geothermal properties of hemp, the cellar has no heating nor cooling system, making the project not only energy self-sufficient but making the project one of the few carbon-negative constructions in the world.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Granted its own appellation within Minervois in the Languedoc region of France, Minervois La Livinière takes its name from cella vinaria, Latin for ‘wine cellar.’ In the hilly northern end of Minervois, the altitude and dense, rocky limestone soils of La Liviniere produce quality red Rhône Blends made from Syrah, Mourvedre, Grenache and Carignan.