La Nine 2019 Magnum

Jean-Baptiste Senat left Paris for his family's vines at Trausse, in the foothills of the Montagne Noire, and made his first vintage in 1996. La Nine is his everyday Minervois, and in 2019 it leans on Carignan: 60% from vines around a hundred years old, with Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah filling it out.

Whole bunches, native yeasts, twelve days on skins, then ten months mostly in tank with a third in barrel. Warm southern fruit, a thread of garrigue and soft, fine tannins, with enough freshness to keep the glass moving. In magnum, a wine for a long table.