CASE PRICE = $19.99 per bottle (12 bottle minimum purchase)
(Discounts apply after adding the correct amount to the basket)
About This Wine:Coume del Mas was started by the Gard family in 2000. Originally an agricultural engineer, Philippe Gard set about finding wonderful old vines around Banyuls and Collioure to make fine wines. This potential was soon realised, and the wines are now exported to over 20 countries, with very positive press reviews and awards. Andy Cook joined 2 years ago. He helps out with vinification, sales English speaking and technology.
We currently have around 12 hectares of vineyards. Our vines fall into one of two categories. The first are old vines planted generations ago, which now have a deep root system and provide low yields of great quality fruit. The second are vines we have planted ourselves, and which we nurture to have a similarly long future.
The vineyards here are not mechanisable so work is done by hand. In some places, a horse can pass to plough the rows.
We use organic products wherever possible, and keep any treatments to an absolute minimum. Many of our parcels have natural balance and do not require treatment for mites, mildew and the like.
Appellation: Banyuls
Varieties: 100% Grenache Noir
Vineyards: Steep hillside vineyards with schiste soils
Farming Practice: Minimal intervention, as the natural conditions of the region are ideal
Aging: 12 months in oak, 50% of which is new
What Does It Taste Like?
This wine is from very low-yielding old vines on our best sites. Severe selection and a long ferment extract the optimum flavours for this profound and ageworthy cuvée, which spends a year in oak casks before bottling.
The Quintessence is incredibly rich and complex, with perfect ripeness of fruit and a formidable tannin structure. Whilst apporachable young, it will be intriguing to see how this wine ages.
Ratings & Reviews
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar - 93 Points ('01 vintage):
"Saturated medium ruby. Classic superripe Banyuls aromas of medicinal
black fruits, dark chocolate and damp earth. Superconcentrated and
creamy-sweet, with compelling, slightly wild flavors of dark berries,
minerals and chocolate. Amazingly tangy for Banyuls: this has a
port-like richness but avoids any cooked character. Finishes with big,
sweet, thoroughly ripe tannins and terrific length. A very impressive
set of releases from this producer." - Stephen Tanzer (Mar/April 2004)
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate - 92 Points ('06 vintage):"The Coume del Mas 2006 Banyuls Quintessence smells of incense, mint, licorice, and black raspberry liqueur. Concentrated and very sweet on the palate, it offers sizzling notes of cinnamon and white pepper in a candy-like manner, with dark chocolate welling up in the finish. This is less flatteringly creamy in texture than the 2007, but somewhat more interesting in flavor and with an even more intense finish. Here, too, is a wine that should be capable of standing up to 8-10 years in cellar, and it would be interesting to have another look at it after its sheer sweetness has backed off a bit.
Philippe and Nathalie Gard (with consultation from Claude Gros) are crafting extroverted and at times perhaps somewhat exaggerated wines from their terraced old vines. He came here a decade ago from the Auvergne, and soon began assembling the parcels that after 2004 would become Coume del Mas. The name comes from the steeply-walled interior valley stretching toward the Tour Madeloc peak, but Gard also has vineyards along the coast and others facing south. He recently started a second domaine, about which see under “Mas Christine." - David Schildknecht
(6/2009)
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate - 91 Points ('07 vintage):"Gard took the principle of extended maceration even further in his 2007 Banyuls Quintessence than in his Galateo cuvee, and this also spent twice as long in (50% new) barrel. Lily, vanilla, licorice, black raspberry liqueur, and chocolate in the nose lead to a thickly rich, creamy, and rather superficially sweet and candied palate that lacks the energy and balance of the Galateo. While impressive in its rather confectionary way, and with an underlying structure to complement its sheer surfeit of ripeness and raw material (probably sufficient for 8-10 years of stamina in the cellar), right now I would not find this all that much fun to drink." - David Schildknecht
(6/2009)
