If you're looking for a bottle of one of the South of France's top reds, you might be out of luck – every last bottle of the 2015 vintage of Mas de Daumas Gassac Red is already gone.
This year, 8500 cases were put up for pre-sale in the annual Mas de Daumas Gassac en-primeur offer on September 1, but within only six weeks the entire stock was cleaned out.
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Roman Guibert, co-owner and France sales director called this year's campaign "an extraordinary moment". Indeed, not long after the sale opened, Mas de Daumas Gassac was inundated with "hundreds of orders via mail, email or directly at the estate" from more than 70 different countries, Guibert said.
The 2015 vintage – the 38th for the wine – was particularly significant as it marked the last in the line to have been tasted by its legendary creator, Aimé Guibert. The first bottle of Mas de Daumas Gassac Red was produced by the winemaker in 1978, and it soon garnered a great deal of interest from across the globe, earning Mas de Daumas Gassac the title of "the Lafite of the Languedoc".
The high-quality Cabernet Sauvignon-predominant wine revived the Languedoc region's reputation as a producer of fine wines deserving of higher price tags. It was the first non-appellation French wine in its price range to be awarded Vin de Pays classification, all the more rare for coming from a region more closely associated with supermarket wines.
The success of this year's primeur offer is well-deserved according to co-owner and winemaker, Samuel Guibert. "The vintage is majestic, with deliciously complex fruit and great body. In the mouth, the finesse of the tannins stands out, as the perfect balance between strength and elegance." He described the 2015 vintage as "a deep ruby red wine, whose highlights remind me of two historic years – 1978 and 2000".
Those qualities were achieved by blending around 80 percent Cabernet Sauvignon with a mix of 17 other indigenous and international varieties, such as Tannat, Grenache, Cinsaut and Tempranillo. The wine is aged for 18 months in oak in the Mas de Daumas Gassac underground cellar and has the potential to be laid down for several decades, but is also approachable when young. According to the winery, it shows elegant fruitiness in its youth, promising class and complexity after seven years or so. It can be cellared for at least 21 years, apparently.
For the 2015 release, Samuel Guibert saw "a similar vintage effect to 2000 and 2009, which were fantastic years. At a time like today, our clients know that it's a great vintage and as a result we had to drastically reduce allocation to meet everyone's expectations."
The popularity of the Mas de Daumas Gassac primeur offer is not just limited to its red wine; Samuel Guibert said the white was almost sold out as well. The company also released a lightly sparkling rosé as part of the en primeur sale. The reds can be found at these stockists.
