Mas De Libian Bohemian Rhône from the Ardèche plateau

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness..." Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Below we offer three lip-smacking new releases from this bohemian Ardèche producer. There is good news and there is bad news. As we have been saying for the last few years, here is a producer at the top of their game and the wines we offer below are wonderful. The bad news is that we will only be able to offer you one red cuvee from 2011 due to a bizarre winery catastrophe that caused the equivalent of 40,000 bottles of biodynamic, artisanal Côtes du Rhône to be lost. An understandably emotional Hélène Thibon - pictured above in happier times - told us she took delivery, late last year, of eleven new concrete tanks as part of the Estate's new gravity-fed facility. These new unlined vessels - currently back in vogue amongst the more radical producers - were used to rack the two 2011 Côtes du Rhône cuvées Bout d'Zan & Khayyâm. Upon a first post-rack tasting the family were shocked to find that the wine had lost most its acidity... read more