Jeff Carrel Languedoc Les Darons 2020
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Jeb
Dunnuck
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Deep red with glints of purple. Hints of red fruit yoghurts, and with aeration fruits such as plums, blueberries and blackberries combined with cinnamon and white pepper spices. Combines amplitude and stress with a dense and silky matter. Mature tannins which easily pass thanks to the fruit and its freshness. Powerful, full-bodied and luscious with numerous but not over-bearing spices finishing with menthol resinous notes.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Languedoc Les Darons is slightly deeper hued compared to the 2019 and offers a meaty, darker fruited, peppery, floral nose. It’s much more primary and youthful, with medium body, ripe, building tannins, and a great finish. I love its purity and freshness, and it's actually going to benefit from a year in bottle.
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Winemaker and grower Jeff Carrel studied Oenology in France, vinifying in the Loire, Alsace and the Languedoc regions where he took up a role as Technical Director for a Bordeaux wine merchant before taking complete charge of the domaine. Today Jeff works mainly in Languedoc Roussillon but also in Bordeaux, Beaujolais and Burgundy. Jeff develops original wines with precision that deliver a sense of place at a great value.
Each wine is a reflection of the people behind them, a story encounters, cultural traditions, varieties, and the land. Jeff Carrel works with organic growers and his labels include a wide range of wines, domaine wines, and also the By Jeff Carrel brands.
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.