The Chai Port Minervois, beside the canal du midi in Homps, is an excellent shop window for Minervois wines. Its manager Laurent de Roulhac, is enthusiastic and knowledgeable about local wines and each year he organises as series of tastings to select the best wines for the Chai.
The tastings are held at the Maison du Minervois in Siran and involve tasting various flights blind and rating them in terms of quality and value for money. I tasted a flight of upmarket Minervois reds, ranging in price from €6 - €11. It was a respectable line-up with no real mingers. My favourite was 2006 Chateau du Donjon, a beautifully balanced, elegant Minervois with fine tannins and good depth of black fruit with hints of tea and smoke. Well worth €9/bottle. I also enjoyed the Cuvée Vincent Minervois from Domaine Festiano in Tourouzelles. It was brimming with ripe blackerry and raspberry fruit and good value at €7.10. I liked the Minervois from Domaine Entretan, finding it concentrated and long with a lovely garrigue nose. Sadly, my co-tasters disagreed with me. The 1997 Chateau Maris had attractive depth of black fruits on the palate, framed by youthful but smooth tannins, and an impressively long finish. It lost points from me for an overly reductive nose.
