Chateau Oupia Les Heretiques Red Blend

90% Carignan and 10% Syrah. Current proprietor Marie-Pierre Iché runs the 60-hectare estate started by her great, great grandfather founded when he bought the historic Château d’Oupia property in 1860. Her father André Iché was a modern Languedoc pioneer: he broke away from the local co-op to focus on quality over quantity in this bulk-driven region in the 1960s and 70s; made a point of preserving Oupia’s venerable old vines (Carignan mainly) as well as promoting the same throughout the local community; planted Syrah, and helped fight for and establish the Minervois AOC that came into being in 1973. Named for a heretical religious sect wiped out by Pope Innocent III in 1208, Hérétiques comes from Oupia’s IGT Pays d’Herault vines: the fruit from 40-year-old Carignan vines is vinified half traditionally and half carbonically before being blended with Syrah and aged for 6 months. On the nose: Purple flowers, raspberries, blackberries, green herbs and earth. On the palate: A complex and hearty red, Les Heretiques is bursting with ripe berry flavor. The tannins are well-balanced and long finish. violets, lavender, and bright purple fruit.