Ornicar 2019 Magnum

Ornicar is Grenache first: 80% from fifty-year-old bush vines on the clay and limestone around Trausse, in the Minervois, with a little old Carignan and Mourvèdre. Jean-Baptiste and Charlotte Senat pick by hand, ferment whole bunches on native yeasts and raise the wine in tank, so nothing gets between you and the fruit.

Ripe blackberry and a touch of liquorice, round but lively, with the freshness that keeps Grenache from turning heavy. Until 2016 it was called Mais où est donc Ornicar, the rhyme French schoolchildren learn to remember their conjunctions. Generous wine, in a bottle to match.