Winemaker Notes
An accessible wine with loads of character, “Les Darons” is packed with ripe, red and dark fruit aromas, with plenty of spice and a streak of underlying minerality. Enjoy this classic, unoaked red with a wide range of everyday meals.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Ripe mulberries and black cherries abound in the 2017 Les Darons. It's medium to full-bodied, with touches of leather and smoke evident as well (despite being entirely unoaked), giving it an attractive savory complexity that's rare at this price point.
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Wine & Spirits
A blend of grenache, syrah and carignan from Minervois, Corbières and La Clape, this is as saturated with sloe-berry flavor as it is bright and lifted. It smells of cedar fronds and lavender and tastes of berries and earth, with a cool-stone feel that makes it refreshing.
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
An extensive appellation producing a diverse selection of good quality and great values, Languedoc spans the Mediterranean coast from the Pyrenees mountains of Roussillon all the way to the Rhône Valley. Languedoc’s terrain is generally flat coastal plains, with a warm Mediterranean climate and frequent risk of drought.
Virtually every style of wine is made in this expansive region. Most dry wines are blends with varietal choice strongly influenced by the neighboring Rhône Valley. For reds and rosés, the primary grapes include Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, Cinsault and Mourvèdre. White varieties include Grenache Blanc, Muscat, Ugni Blanc, Vermentino, Macabéo, Clairette, Piquepoul and Bourbelenc.
International varieties are also planted in large numbers here, in particular Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon.
The key region for sparkling wines here is Limoux, where Blanquette de Limoux is believed to have been the first sparkling wine made in France, even before Champagne. Crémant de Limoux is produced in a more modern style.