2017 Chateau Saint Jean d'Aumieres l'Alchimiste Terrasses du Larzac 750 ml

The Languedoc. 

That’s our rebuttal to anyone who thinks importers and Instagrammers have explored every corner of France. Because every time we go to the breathtaking region that sits just below the world-famous Rhône, we feel like we’re blazing a trail—and we come home with a take-your-breath-away bottle like the 2017 Château Saint-Jean d’Aumières l'Alchimiste Terrasses du Larzac. 

You could try asking your local sommelier or wine shop about it, but Languedoc locals—and the judges at the Decanter World Wine Awards, who awarded it a stunning 96-point score—seem to be the only ones in the know about this cuvée. That’s fine with us. It’s how we grabbed our share of this standout.

Drive a little northeast to Châteauneuf-du-Pape (or southwest to Priorat, for that matter), and a dense 96-point Syrah- and Grenache-dominated blend like this one will likely go for twice as much. Swirling with aromas of fig jam, smoke, leather, and spice, it’s seamless on the palate, full of the dark fruit compote, aniseed, and telltale notes of smoked meat that make the wines from this part of the world so viscerally appealing and soul-satisfying.

We discovered it in a rustic bistro called L’Artichaut in Montpellier, where it went perfectly with filet de boeuf en croûte with mushrooms and a Port wine sauce. It didn’t take much detective work to realize that the wine came from the tiny village of Gignac, just west of where we were staying.

Many talk about the Languedoc in broad terms, but it’s made up of appellations that are just as distinct as those in the Rhône. L’Alchimiste hails from Terrasses du Larzac, a relatively new AOP that just earned its status in 2014. Consisting of a U-shaped area west of Montpellier, vines have been cultivated in this region for more than a millennium, and the area is home to one of France's shining stars: Mas de Daumas Gassac, the “Lafite of the Languedoc,” sits just a few miles to the northeast of Château Saint-Jean d’Aumières.

Like the best vineyards of the region, Château Saint-Jean’s are bathed in sunlight during the day, and protected from northerly winds by the Larzac plateau. The property lies on Gignac’s typical yellow marl soils as well as well-drained clay-limestone terraces partly covered with smooth pebbles—poor soils that result in Syrah, Grenache, and Carignan of outstanding density and concentration.

In the cellar, the wine is aged for 10 months in 30% new oak, which imparts the perfect touch of vanilla and coconut to the dense wine. This was the find of our trip to the Languedoc, a wine that thrilled us in Montpellier, and we know will thrill you.