2023 Château d’Oupia, Les Hérétiques, Vin de Pays de L’Herault, Languedoc-Roussillon, France.
André Iché, who owns one of the best-known Minervois estates, Château d’Oupia, makes this dark purple/garnet all Carignan Les Hérétiques Vin de Pays de L’Herault that way over delivers in the quality to price ratio and is again a lovely pure example of varietal and pace with the 2023 vintage. I was excited to try this old favorite of mine, as I haven’t had it in many years, so it was great to see that it still performed to expectations with a deep array of black raspberry, plum, blueberry and berry fruits, accented by Mediterranean shrub, white pepper, anise, lilac and lander notes in a medium full bodied wine with gentle tannins and a light earthy feel. Coming from vines, some of which areover 100 years old, and planted on clay-limestone soils the Carignan grapes are sustainably farmed with organic and biodynamic methods. In some years small amounts of Syrah, Grenache and Cinsualt might make their way into the blend, but this wine truly belong to its old vine Carignan, which sees fermentation with whole cluster for a full carbonic maceration in steel tanks, where it ages a short time as well before bottling. Carignan, one of the Châteauneuf du Pape grapes, is found throughout the Rhône, the Mediterranean, including Spain, France and Italy, as well as here in California, sometimes done solo, but can be found in Zinfandel bends.
The Château d’Oupia red wine VdP is interestingly close to or can be100% Carignan, thus breaking the AOC rules in Minervois, since Carignan here must be blended to have the designation “Minervois” which led them to name the “Hérétiques” as such. Usually here the wines are typically a blend of Grenache, Carignan, Syrah and some Mourvèdre, but like in Cobieres down the road, Carignan really shines and can and does make some outstanding solo or main player wines, with this Les Hérétiques being not only a seriously delicious effort, but a ridiculous value, especially for those that love deep Rhône style reds. Importer Louis/Dressner notes as well that “Les Hérétiques” is also a nod to the Cathars, a heretical Christian group that was based in the Languedoc ages ago, but was wiped out by order of Pope Innocent III in 1208, in response to the murder of a papal representative by a Cathar supporter near Minervois. The castle itself here on the estate, which is the home of Château d’Oupia, dates back to this time as well. The winery, various importers and retailers around the world can’t tell you the exact blend in this vintage, with some suggesting 80/20 Carignan and Grenache, others saying 90/10 Carignan/Syrah percentage wise, but again, it really has always been about the Carignan here and it is the better for it and I highly recommend this Les Hérétiques, it is worth chasing down.
($15 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive