Corbières reds

This was certainly the most successful Corbières tasting I’ve ever done,’ opened Andrew Jefford. Despite not having high expectations, commenting that in the past ‘the outstanding wines have been intermittent rather than a regular feature’, he said: ‘Well under a quarter of the wines could be described as disappointing in some way or another, or even average, so it was a really exciting tasting.’

Justin Howard-Sneyd MW agreed: ‘I feel we tasted some top-quality wines. We ended up with a group of seven wines that really stood out, and the three that we rated Outstanding (see right) were the ones that we all agreed were most worthy of that accolade.’ Frederic Marti was ‘surprised and impressed at the overall quality’, highlighting the ‘expressive, fruit-forward styles’ and overall ‘brightness’ of the wines.

‘I had the preconceived idea that the wines would be a bit alcoholic, a bit rich and warm on the palate,’ Marti said. ‘But I found them to be well balanced and well managed, with real energy and bite.’

In terms of wine styles, Jefford said the Corbières region is ‘so big it’s hard to generalise’, though essentially it rises in the