The 2005 Las Vals - 100% Mourvedre, from mixed pebbly and chalky soils, and aged in barrique - is another Lignere wine of quite aggressive personality, from its nose of chocolate syrup, smoked meats, plum paste and distillate, through a palate of astringent huckleberry, coconut, bitter chocolate, fennel, and tar. Up front, this is powerful wine, but the finish is a bit disappointingly dried and heated, and ones lips slightly puckered, by a combination of alcohol and aggressive tannin. In the almost perpetually breezy foothills of the Alaric Mountains, the Ligneres family farms more than 200 acres of geologically diverse slopes and terraces. Their wines were formerly quite distinctively labeled under their name, and now bear a uniform label inscribed -La Baronne- (for their Chateau), although for the most part the cuvee names remain unchanged. This is a family-operated estate, although interestingly, the five principles represent two general practitioners, a dentist, a pharmacist, and a biologist, and employ a Tuscan oenological consultant, Stefano Chioccioli. While within the Corbieres region, they bottle all of their wines as vins de pays. I confine my notes to those wines currently on offer in the U.S.Importer: Jackson Family Wines, Santa Rosa, CA; tel. (707) 544 4000