Courier Rouge (2016) - Cotes Catalanes

Based on 70% Grenache and 30% Carignan, the 2016 Côtes Catalanes sports a deep purple hue to go with a solid array of ripe currant and dark cherry fruits, spice, chocolate, and roasted herb-like aromas and flavors. Rich, full-bodied, concentrated, and balanced, with a savory, almost umami-like character, it's another singular wine from this label. It's drinking beautifully today and will evolve nicely through 2028.

Perroti-Brown says:

In February this year, I tasted every vintage of Courier that Kimberly has made. The first thing I told Kimberly when tasting the reds from 2014 onwards is that the wines need some air, which sounds counterintuitive considering how long the wines have spent in barrel. But this is a style that often requires time and aeration to show its stuff. We decanted the 2014-2017 vintages, and the bet paid off. The perfume on the 2016 Courier, in particular, is ethereal. Multi-layered, earthy, mineral, and intricately nuanced, this wine reflects these ancient vines and historic, rugged land along with, I like to think, a whisper of the many fascinating lives of Kimberly Jones.

A blend of 60% Grenache and 40% Carignan, the 2016 Courier Rouge is medium to deep garnet in color. After considerable swirling, it flies out of the glass with scents of mocha, star anise, incense, and rusty nail, giving way to a tantalizing core of plum preserves and dried cherries. The full-bodied palate is bright and energetic with loads of exotic spice accents and with a plush texture, finishing very long and layered.

Jones goes on to explain what makes her 2016 The Courier so special:

When I first went to Maury, I loved the wines. But they were so big and rich, and I wanted some elegance. So, I started aging my red wine for three years in older oak. One of my favorite wines is old-style Château Rayas, and I wanted to capture that spirit—that sense of expression. And yeah, I knew it didn’t make financial sense, but I was the importer, so nobody was there to tell me I couldn’t do it.

Because of the longer aging in barrel, Courier enters the market later than is typical. The current release is the 2016, which had five years in oak and one year in bottle prior to release. “Because this is such a powerful wine, we wanted this vintage to have longer than three years in barrel, but because of Covid, it had a little longer than intended,” Kimberly explains. “I love the result.”