The first of its kind, Hecht & Bannier's 2009 Maury is distinguished for lower residual sugar (62 grams) than usually found in vintage wines of its appellation. As the authors point out, it is possible to achieve a balance between sweetness and tannin and at the same time retain an element of fresh fruit vivacity, and this wine certainly walks their talk. Vivid concentration of black raspberry is allied with subtle vanilla, cocoa powder, and brown spices in aromatic alliance with heliotrope, buddleia, and fruit distillates, and on a palate lush, even voluptuous, yet buoyant, juicy, and almost compulsively enticing the next sip. Once again this team has shown that they aren't going to play the game if they can't play in the same league with an appellation's front-runners. This beauty should turn heads at the table over the next few years.Gregory Hecht and Francois Bannier - for more about whose almost uniquely quality-conscious and hands-on negociant operation, consult the Languedoc section of my report in issue 183 as well as in this issue - are extremely dedicated to as well as fascinated by Roussillon potential, even though they have been releasing until this year only a single wine of Roussillon appellation, which nowadays features roughly half Grenache from the chalk of Vingrau and Tautavel as well as the schist of Maury; Carignan from high elevation, gneiss and granite sites in Belesta and Caramany; Syrah, beginning in 2008 from the high, granite hills of Lesquerde; and a "small drop" of Mourvedre from Estagel. The results - just as with this team's work in Languedoc appellations - have been wines on a par with those of the finest domaines, yet at amazingly modest prices.Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700
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