Magnon’s 2007 Corbieres Rozeta represents a melange of fruit from 60-80 year old vines Carignan grown on both schist and chalk (including fruit from appellation Fitou, which defaults to Corbieres), blended with small amounts of Grenache, Cinsault, and Syrah. The toasted nut aspects of Carignan are prominent in the nose, no doubt reinforced by the wine’s low sulfur, and accompanied by a ravishing, buddleia-like floral perfume. Bitter-edged black fruits emerge more decisively on the palate, lending a juicy and invigorating cast to a wine with exceedingly fine-grained tannins and an almost delicate, lilting, refreshing finish. No doubt the sleek, smooth texture is in part due to the Cinsault. A lovely interchange of nut oils, cherry pit bitterness, and subtle chalk, stone, and graphite mineral nuances holds one’s attention. This totally unexpected example of Languedoc red and outstanding value must be tasted to be believed. It’s meant for enjoying over the next couple of years, although I am going to try to hold on to a bottle or two to see what becomes of it thereafter. And the 2008 looks likely to be stunning. Maxime Magnon – former winemaker for Maria Fita in Fitou – is crafting fascinating wines under his own label, in the low-sulfur, back-to-the-future style that he absorbed in his time working for Maurice Lapierre in Morgon. Applying this approach to old Carignan vines in the rugged back country of Fitou and neighboring Corbieres (the gateway to Roussillon) results in some of the most strikingly refined, refreshing, and easy-to-drink wines I have ever had from the Languedoc. But that is not to suggest they lack profundity, on the contrary. How will they age? Well, the results from 2001 at Maria Fita have held up well so far, but you must have a proper, cool cellar. Speaking of Beaujolais, Magnon bottles a less expensive blend called Demarrante that is all fruit and charm, but by December, there wasn’t a bottle of the 2007 left there to be tasted, and I had to make due with a lip-smacking 2008 that hadn’t yet come out of malo. My laudatory reviews of Magnon’s two principle 2006 vintage reds can be found in issue 178, but my recent visit to him offered a first chance to taste his white. Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524