Goumard’s 2009 Coteaux du Languedoc Terrasses du Larzac L’Infidele was in two tank lots subtly different in taste when I visited, and the result will be deliciously forward but no doubt capable of acquitting itself well over the next 5-7 years. Heliotrope, rose, and decadent lily in the nose mingle with cherry and black raspberry preserves that go on to inform a supple juicy palate, with hints of peat and leather accenting a generous finish. Vincent Goumard – for more about whose estate and methods, consult my account in issue 183 – has more than merely fine-tuned his approach in both the vineyard and cellar. Among the significant changes are an ongoing organic conversion; the introduction of a sorting table with the 2008 vintage; and the harvest of Carignan earlier and at lower alcohol for what Goumard calls “a complete change in the expression of this cepage,” strikingly evident amid the exciting raw materials for the estate’s 2010s. “After fermentation of the 2010 Syrahs, you thought you were in the Northern Rhone,” says Goumard, and the effusively floral and illusively carnal evidence remained abundant when I tasted from barrel in April. Imported by Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990.