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This lot of six wines from Mas de Daumas Gassac comprise a rare (unique?) opportunity to purchase mature bottles forming a vertical of the best early vintages of the millennium.
All bottles were purchased en primeur and stored since release in my cool cellar. The appearance of the bottles, capsules and labels are good, with some minor damage to back-labels and the front label of the 2006. Levels are good and all quite similar (as pictured) with no signs of leakage.
Apologies to the many BFW buyers who know something of the history of the Gassac property. Gassac's incarnation as a vineyard came about in 1972 after the new owner Aime Guibert received advice from an oenology professor friend that the property had potential to make a great wine. This came to pass with the release of the well received 1978 vintage. The wine depended on a combination of vineyard aspect and soil, with a unique mix of grape varieties; many outside of the permitted appellation rules. This resulted in Gassac becoming the first prestige property to sit outside the AOC system.
The wonderfully informative daumas-gassac.com website lists the vintage conditions and cepage (blend) of each year. Although the mix is extremely eclectic, the backbone is typically 65-80% cabernet sauvignon. Even here, Guibert sought heterogeneity in the belief that this would bring complexity by planting a wide range of material rather than the usual restricted range of clones.
The Guibert family believe that most vintages of Mas de Daumas Gassac rouge improve with aging and easily keep twenty plus years. I have tried all these vintages on offer--some many times--and have reached some generalisations about the wines. (Please refer my reviews- rwpalmer- and others on cellartracker.)
Firstly, it is a mistake to compare Gassac with other cabernet-dominant wines. It is never a glossy purple and lacks prominent blackcurrant notes. The palate is always firm. The tannins can be quite tough, but they do resolve and the wine becomes balanced at around 15 years of age. Tasting before then can be disappointing. The flavour profile is earthy, leathery as well as red-fruited, floral and herbal; seeming to miss out the dark fruit spectrum entirely. Gassac is a highly idiosyncratic wine for which the world of wine is all the richer. To whoever secures this lot, I trust it will bring enormous interest and pleasure.
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