This was a Moore Brothers special offering ($14) recently. We like. One of Greg Moore's classic descriptions is below, we agree with him on "black cherries...raspberry...smooth mouth filling and round velvety finish."
"Domaine du Mas de Libian:
Jean-Pierre Thibon's family has operated the Mas de Libian in Saint-Marcel d'Ardèche since 1670. He and his cardiologist wife Jacqueline have three daughters: Hélène, Catherine, and Cécile. In 1995, Hélène and her husband Alain Macagno assumed responsibility for viticulture and winemaking, and began to estate-bottle the wine, rather than sell it in bulk to négociants.
Long before it was fashionable, the Mas de Libian was an organic farm, and in 2005 Hélène introduced the demanding practice of biodynamics. Catherine does much of the vineyard work herself, with the help of a charming Comtois draft horse named "Nestor," who is encouraged by his canine stable mates "Sophia" and "Éclair."
This Wine:
"Bout d'Zan" (for the rascal street urchin protagonist of Louis Feuillade's short silent films of the early twentieth century) was Jean-Pierre Thibon's childhood nickname. One third of this co-fermented blend of Grenache and Syrah was matured for seven months in large, well-used foudres; the remainder in concrete vats.
In the glass, the wine is nearly black at the center, with a saturated, deep purple color right to the edge. The nose opens with wild black cherries seasoned with baking spices and fennel seed, adding lavender, dried flowers, and powdered cocoa as it evolves in the glass, and the flavors range from black raspberry and fennel through ripe cassis and dark chocolate. On the palate the wine is smooth and mouth filling, with wonderful graphite mineral brightness and refreshing vibrancy. The mouth-coating flavors gain weight over time in the glass, and the wine has a round, velvety finish. Drink now - 2017."
