Gérard Bertrand : La Forge 2021

This stylish yet brooding red offers a savory character thanks to the inclusion of Syrah. It leads with smoked bacon fat and subtle tar notes that infuse a core of blackberry paste and plum purée. As salty oak and iron-tinged minerality build in density, notes of toasted anise, mocha and menthol echo on the long finish, held together with velvety tannins. Carignan and Syrah. Drink now through 2030. 1,565 cases made, 150 cases imported.

A fruity and elegant nose with loads of cherries, cassis, fresh plums, some stones and black pepper. It’s textured and layered. Full body with fine tannins. It has a creamy texture with spices and herbs intermingling at the center. Vitality and energy throughout with a long developing finish. Carignan, syrah and grenache noir. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Drink or hold.

Mineral, racy intensity with beautiful, deep breadth; a fleshy, flavorful wine.

This wine invites you to experience Corbières at its best. It opens with a perfumed nose of wild black raspberry, dried black cherry, grilled meats, leather, thyme and hibiscus. Silky in texture, with elegant, well-integrated fruit that lends richness to the long finish and weds florality with fruit intensity.

Crafted from old vines of Carignan and Syrah, the 2021 Corbières Boutenac la Forge offers up aromas of wild berries, garrigue, pepper, ink, oak and blood, with clove hints with aeration. It is full-bodied, dense and generously extracted, with a concentrated mid-palate, a rich and oaky core of fruit and plenty of youthfully chewy tannins that segue into a long, lusty finish. Matured for 12 months in barrels, followed by another year in bottle before release, this is a demonstrative, muscular Corbières Boutenac.