Terrasses du Larzac report 2023: Latest releases tasted

Terrasses du Larzac 2021 vintage rating: 4 / 5

Terrasses du Larzac 2020 vintage rating: 5 / 5

The Terrasses du Larzac zone is fairly spread out, the vineyard area forming a v-shape around the foothills of a limestone plateau, the Causse du Larzac. The areas classified under the appellation appear a little scattergun when looking at a map. They’re concentrated around the village of Jonquières, the bottom of the ‘V’, while others are some 30km northwest and a few more some 50km northeast.

This is one of few appellations where Carignan is a principal variety (not relegated to a secondary or accessory variety). The others are Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache, with Cinsault becoming more important too.

I’ve been blown away by the style and class of these wines. This really is Languedoc’s bijou. It is beginning to be reflected in the price of the wines, however, so now is the time to start snapping them up.

See the Languedoc report 2023 homepage

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top Terrasses du Larzac wines from 2020 & 2021

2020

The growing season

Coming off the back of two difficult and extreme vintages – the devastating mildew of 2018 and the heat and drought of 2019 – 2020 presents itself as an ideal vintage in Terrasses du Larzac.

‘2020 was a beautiful year,’ says Sébastien Fillon, president of the Terrasses du Larzac appellation and owner of Domaine Le Clos du Serres.

‘Spring brought generous rain and wind,’ says Charlotte de Béarn of Château de Jonquières, in the village of Jonquières at the heart of the appellation. She and her husband Clément are the new generation at this domaine, having taken over from Charlotte’s parents in 2014.

The wind acted as a natural treatment against mildew, making for ripe, healthy grapes when harvest came.

Reds

The 2020 reds are spectacular; utterly delicious to drink now, but they will also age into the medium term due to juicy, succulent acidities.

These wines show better consistency than the 2021s, they’re well balanced with great freshness. The best have exceptional concentration of ripe red and black fruit but with a magical lift, an aerial quality and a mineral, iodine, herbal seam.

See the Languedoc latest releases score tables:

All top-scoring wines

All top-scoring white wines

All top-scoring red wines

See all Terrasses du Larzac latest releases rated

2021

The growing season

In contrast to 2020, 2021 was a cool vintage overall. At Château de Jonquières, the frost of 8 April ‘intensely disrupted the vines,’ says De Béarn. This lead to many domaines losing a large part of their crop, sometimes up to 80% according to Fillon.

‘We lost about half of the Grenache Blanc and Grenache Noir,’ says Flo Busch of his eponymous domaine, also located in the village of Jonquières, ‘but luckily the other vineyards were not much affected.’

What seemed a complete disaster at the time was improved slightly by some vines pulling round later in the season: ‘the losses are considerable, but are not as colossal as we estimated in the early hours of that frosty morning,’ says De Béarn, ‘where some vines were down 70%, others restarted, saving what would end up as a small harvest.’

This challenging episode was followed by a fair amount of rain during the growing season and around harvest. Coupled together, they delayed and disrupted ripening, and had the effect of ‘elongating the harvest, with up to 15 days between two plots, right into the middle of September,’ says De Béarn.

It also meant that it was difficult for some grapes to reach maturity: ‘for a fragile variety like Cinsault, it was was fairly difficult to reach maturity while keeping healthy grapes,’ says Fillon. ‘The grapes were very slightly underripe,’ says Julien Zernott, winemaker at Domaine du Pas de l’Escalette, but it also allowed them to harvest grapes with balanced alcohol levels.

A difficult vintage overall with lower yields and disease pressure, therefore much depended on the reactions and decisions of the winemakers at each moment. ‘There were choices to make and risks to take,’ says Fillon.

Reds

This has resulted in wines with high acidities, moderate alcohol levels, and enough ripe fruit to keep the wines very balanced. It should also mean that these are good wines to cellar for at least 10-15 years.

The best have dazzling aromatics and many show sophisticated herbal nuances spreading through mint, wild thyme and laurel. The less successful examples, while still enjoyable to drink now, lack a little aromatic finesse.

Top-scoring wines

Mas d’Agamas, Baies Choisies, Terrasses du Larzac 2020 – 95 points

Mas Cal Demoura, Les Combariolles, Terrasses du Larzac, 2021 – 95 points

La Jasse Castel, Bleu Velours, Terrasses du Larzac 2021 – 94 points

Domaine du Pas de l’Escalette, Le Grand Pas, Terrasses du Larzac 2021 – 94 points

Individual appellation analysis:

Limoux | Corbières & Minervois | St-Chinian | Faugères | Picpoul de Pinet | Pic St Loup | La Clape

Top five value wines

Domaine Plan de l’Homme, Cuvée Khi, Terrasses du Larzac 2020 – 93 points

Mas de Cap Daniel, Les Cormiers, Terrasses du Larzac 2021 – 91 points

Castelbarry, Les Raisins d’Y Croire, Terrasses du Larzac 2019 – 90 points

Château de Jonquieres, Lansade, Terrasses du Larzac 2021 – 90 points

Mas d’Amile, Le Petitou, Terrasses du Larzac 2021 – 90 points

Top producers to look out for

Domaine du Pas de l’Escalette

Top-quality biodynamic domaine with 22ha started by Julien and Delphine Zernott, both of whom are originally from the centre of France. Clay-limestone soils, with a particularity of old Carignan and old Cinsault.

Le Clos du Serres

Also incomers to the region, Sébastien, who is also the appellation’s current president, and his wife Béatrice run this 15ha domaine and make elegant wines.

Les Vignes Oubliées

A sort of small cooperative where the grapes come from a collective of a few farmers working tiny parcels as naturally as possible, and the wines are made by Jean-Baptiste Granier.

Mas Conscience

A domaine which was relaunched in 2020 and is now run by a number of renowned winemakers including Audrey Bonnet-Koenig, Claude Gros and Stéphane Canaguie.

Tasting notes and scores for the top Terrasses du Larzac latest releases:

The wines below are listed by score.

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