I hope my post on Tannat is still fresh in your memory! (If it isn't, you can always read it from here.) This is because this post is again on Tannat, that wonderful tannic monster from the Southwest France. This time, however, I'm not going to delve deep into the history of this grape variety nor discuss about the different styles it can be made into. Instead, as this is another one of my Monthly Vertical posts, I'm going to look into the specific Madiran wine Duc de Larsan and how it can stand up to the test of time.
First, a foreword. Duc de Larsan has been sold for a long time here in Finland in Alko, our state monopoly of alcohol. At approximately 10€ ($12 or £9) the wine is relatively inexpensive – taking into account that the cheapest available plonk here currently costs about 7€ ($8 or £6) – which does not give much promise aging-wise. It's just a lowly entry-level Madiran wine made by a huge (owning 1,400 hectares / 3,500 acres!) producer Castel Frères and – judging by a little bit of googling – its main market is most likely just Finland, because you're really hard-pressed to find any non-Finnish mentions of the wine. This also explains why there is no mention of the wine in the Castel Frères home page and why it is impossible to find any information whatsoever on the wine, bar the product profile in Alko's pages.
So, back to my original point point. Normally wines sold here for 10€ are just basic entry-level wines, only a notch above the horrendous nigh-drinkable plonk, definitely not wines that could be aged in a cellar. For the most part, these 10€ wines are meant to be drunk within the year and the best ones can age perhaps a year or two more. That's why I was surprised positively when I tasted Duc de Larsan for the first time – granted, it wasn't an outstanding wine by any means, but instead a quite typical for a French wine that's sold for 10€ here. However, it showed such high acidity and impressive tannins that I was stunned how it was possible to make such a seriously structured at that price point – normally what you'd get at that price point is either dilute Valpolicella or then just jammy, soft new world plonk where the acidity is replaced with residual sugar.
That's why I was understandably thrilled when I heard my friend had a bunch of different vintages of Duc de Larsan stashed away and offered me a seat in this vertical tasting of his. Now I could finally verify if my hunch was correct and this inexpensive little wine was actually capable of not just surviving, but actually developing in the cellar!
AOC Madiran
- Groupe Castel
- Country: France
- Region: Le Sud-Ouest, Madiran
- Grape(s): Tannat, Cabernet Sauvignon
- Price: 9,99€ / 0,75
The wine is made predominantly from Tannat, as dictated by the Appellation rules, with some Cabernet Sauvignon in the mix to soften up the wine a bit (it always cracks me up how there is a region where you can actually soften the wines with relatively the tannic Cabernet Sauvignon). The wine is aged in oak barrels – as pointed out by the label, stating elevé en fûts de chêne. Precise varietal compositions or aging times are not available, as I couldn't locate a single technical file on the wine.
***
Duc de Larsan Madiran 2011
AOC Madiran
- Tasted on: 9th of January 2016
14% of alcohol.
Very dense and concentrated pitch-black color with ruby red highlights, true to the Tannat style. The nose feels very youthful, rich and concentrated with aromas of freshly picked dark berries, dark chocolate shavings, some sweet mocha character, a little bit of leather and a hint of raisin. The wine is very ripe, rich and full-bodied on the palate with extracted, chewy feel. There are flavors of ripe blackberries, sweet dark plums, chocolate oak, some juicy blackcurrants and a little bit of cocoa richness, offset by a touch of astringent bitterness. Overall the wine feels quite modern with pronounced oak character and lots of so ripe fruit flavors the wine comes across almost sweet, yet the wine is also tremendously structured with moderately high acidity and massive, tremendously grippy tannins. The finish is long, rich and juicy, yet also quite bitter and really mouth-drying. There are succulent flavors of sweet dark berries, fresh blackcurrants, some plummy fruit, a little bit of oak chocolate and a hint of smoke.
All in all this wine feels very modern, oak-heavy take on Madiran, yet also one that isn't stripped of its massive tannins – which isn't that commonplace with modern Madiran wines. Relatively ripe and sweet example of the Duc de Larsan style.
86/100
Summary: I'm really not thrilled about this wine's prominent oak character, as it feels like the wood is drowning most of the finer nuances of fruit underneath. Still the wine shows great promise with its concentrated fruit and tightly-knit structure, making it feels much younger than what it is now, at 4 years of age. Hence, with enough cellaring one might find a lovely wine underneath all that oak and ripeness in the future. Really great value for 9,99€.
***
Duc de Larsan Madiran 2009
AOC Madiran
- Tasted on: 9th of January 2016
13,5% of alcohol.
Opaque black-red color. Somewhat closed nose with reticent aromas of dark plums, some sweet and slightly chocolatey oak character, a little bit of crunchy blackcurrant and hints of ripe dark berries. The wine feels concentrated, full-bodied and chewy on the palate with very dry and quite dense flavors of dark plums, plush dark berry character, tannic bitterness, some tart cranberry, a little bit of iron and a hint of cocoa oak. The wine is medium-to-moderate in acidity with abundant yet surprisingly ripe and powdery tannins. The finish is rich and quite oaky with long, ripe flavors of sweet plums, crunchy blackcurrants, some blackberries and a hint of cocoa. The tannins give the aftertaste a little bit of chewy, even a hint of mealy feel and make the wine end on a somewhat mouthdrying note.
I was expecting quite a massive wine for a 2009, but this was surprisingly well-proportioned an effort for such a warm vintage wine. Fortunately even the alcohol levels were quite moderate. Perhaps the warm vintage was the reason why the tannins were this time relatively smooth and mellow?
87/100
Summary: A nice and surprisingly balanced example of the Duc de Larsan style. The oak seems to be integrating with the fruit pretty nicely, but there is still quite a bit of it left, so even though the wine is starting to drink nicely, there are no hurries with this one. Great value at 9,99€.
***
Duc de Larsan Madiran 2008
AOC Madiran
- Tasted on: 9th of January 2016
13% of alcohol.
Somewhat translucent, yet still quite opaque and surprisingly youthful, purple-hued cherry color. The opacity is starting to give way, if compared to more opaque vintages 2009 and 2011. The nose seems somewhat developed and a bit sharp with aromas of smoke, dusty earth and some herbal greenness with some plummy dark fruit, a little bit of sweet oak and a hint of minty coolness. There is some obvious sense of weight and concentration on the palate and the body is full and chewy. Flavor-wise the wine is dominated by minty herbal character, some spicy oak and notes of dusty cellar. The fruit department feels a bit subdued, but still pretty much alive with flavors of sweet dark fruits, crunchy blackcurrants and ripe red berries. The structure is still very impressive and tightly-knit with abundant, grippy tannins and high acidity that feels noticeably higher than in vintages 2009 or 2011. The finish is rich, long and very astringent with massive, mouth-drying tannins and fruit flavors of ripe plums and blackcurrants. The oak character feels much more noticeable than in midpalate, giving the aftertaste a rather sweet note of oak spice and chocolate milkshake.
There was some discussion whether this wine suffered from TCA or not, but we decided on the wine being OK, seeing how the dusty aromas really didn't smell that corky and there was still pretty much fruit left to the wine. The fruit department seemed rather subdued and thin when compared to the surrounding vintages, however.
86/100
Summary: All in all, this is one of the most seriously structured Duc de Larsan wines in the past handful of vintages. Still very concentrated and brooding in style, yet starting to shows subtle signs of age as well. Hopefully the reticent fruit character can be chalked up to bottle variation, as the structure still needs some more aging in a cellar to resolve. Good, but nothing outstanding here. Priced according to its quality at 9,99€.
***
Duc de Larsan Madiran 2007
AOC Madiran- Tasted on: 9th of January 2016
13,5% of alcohol.
Somewhat translucent, slightly developed dark cherry color with a hint of mature figgy hue towards the rim. Somewhat closed and reticent nose with aromas of dusty earth, some dark plummy fruit, a little bit of savory, dark-toned oak spice and hints of crunchy dark berries. The wine is full-bodied, weighty and super-juicy on the palate with rich, chewy flavors of ripe dark plums, some developed notes of sweet dates, a little bit of juicy blackberries and a hint of bitterness. Even at 8 years of age the dark-toned mocha oak character seems quite prominent, although the tannins start to feel a bit resolved and less grippy than in the younger vintages. The wine is modest-to-medium in acidity, further emphasizing the richness and juicy quality of the fruit. The aftertaste feels more tannic and mouthdryingly astringent than the midpalate. There are long, rich and complex flavors of sweet oak, ripe dark berries, some blood, a little bit of dill and an umami hint of beef consommé in the slightly developed aftertaste.
In our tasting this was the favorite wine of many, but not for me – the wine was still too oaky for my taste and the acidity felt less than adequate here, making the wine feel somewhat tired and flabby. However, there was still lots of very nice qualities to the wine, so despite being quite a bruiser, this was overall a positive experience.
87/100
Summary: At 8 years of age, the wine is starting to show some mature qualities, but as it still feels relatively youthful I can't help wondering how long-lived wines these 10€ wines can really be and how on earth they age at a glacial pace? I guess that's the Tannat doing its magic tricks.
***
Duc de Larsan Madiran 2005
AOC Madiran- Tasted on: 9th of January 2016
13% of alcohol. The oldest wine in our tasting of vintages 2005–2011. This is supposed to be a warm vintage, but the alcohol level is the lowest among these vintages.
Dark, luminous cherry color with some transparency – obviously the least opaque wine in our tasting. The nose is complex and starting to show some developed character with aromas of plums, ripe dark berries, some nuanced mocha oak, a little bit of dried figs, a hint of chocolatey oak spice, a whiff of dusty earth and a touch of dill.
The wine is medium-bodied on the palate with velvety mouthfeel. There are nuanced flavors of ripe dark fruits, some sweet oak spice, a little bit of succulent, sweet dark berries, a hint of tangy, fresh blackcurrant and a nice, balancing streak of sour cherry bitterness. The tannins feel quite ample, but they have become surprisingly soft and mellow with age, letting the quite high acidity take care of the structure. The finish is long, complex and developed with ripe dark berries, sweet mocha oak, some dried fig aromatics, a little bit of leather and a hint of tobacco. The tannins give only a little bit of astringency to the aftertaste, but they give a lot of chewy, grainy texture to it.
Definitely the most developed wine in our tasting, but still it feels it is going up – there is quite much of life to the wine left (and some oak to integrate). Many people in the tasting felt like it was past its peak or just otherwise less impressive, but I enjoyed the lighter body of this wine, letting the acidity shine through nicely.
89/100
Summary: I do wonder, however, that how long-lived these wines really are? After all, at 9,99€ they are among the cheapest drinkable wines you can buy in Finland, and these kinds of wines usually drink well for 2–3 years. This wine, on the other hand, feels like it is still going up at over 10 years of age. This might not be the most complex or otherwise impressive of wines, but in its price point it is quite peerless. Worth 90 points if the oak ever integrates with the fruit before the wine falls apart with age. Among the Duc de Larsan wines we tasted, this was my wine of the night.
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| Our Wheel of Madiran from out Tannat tasting with the Duc de Larsan wines on the fore. |
The bottom line is this: even in Finland there are wines under 10€ you can stash away in your cellar and enjoy them when they are 10 years old, or even older! Granted, these wines aren't spectacular wines in any way, but one really shouldn't expect that at this price point – and they turn out surprisingly enjoyable, given enough age.
Although the modern, oak-heavy style of Duc de Larsan didn't impress me that much, I was still nonplussed how nicely the wines performed at 10 years of age! Perhaps I will need to keep an eye of the better vintages in the future and stash away a case of them? At least this vertical tasting convinced me of the aging potential of this little big wine. One should also remember how it is possible to find tremendous value in wines of lesser-known regions, if one is only willing to do a little bit of researching.
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