Domaine Canet Valette - Saint-Chinian Maghani 2021

Marc Valette crafted wines in his own image—full-bodied and all expressing obvious power. He practices organic farming and limits himself to very low yields. He has shifted the entire lineup toward wines that can be enjoyed much sooner. At the top of the range, the Maghani wine takes its name from the “wine of the Magi” in the quatrains of the great Persian poet Omar Khayyam. We have a particular fondness for the entry-level wines, notably “Ivresses” and “Une et mille nuits.” The next generation is already in place, with Marc’s son, Camille, set to take over starting with the 2024 harvest.

In Saint-Chinian, Marc Valette is one of those pioneers, producing quality wines since the early 1990s. “It was Jean-François Izarn (Domaine Borie La Vitarèle) who sparked it all. After meeting him, I went from being a simple farmer to a wine enthusiast,” says this humble, big-hearted winemaker. His limestone vineyard, with its alkaline soil, comprises 21 hectares of organic vineyards arranged around the winery. In the mid-2000s, when Marc decided to produce more elegant wines and found his signature style, his wines achieved a balance between finesse and complexity, thanks to grapes harvested at a younger stage of ripeness and gentler extraction methods. The profile of the wines—pleasant when young and capable of remarkable development with aging—is appealing in more ways than one. The quality of the vintages tasted this year and the pleasure they provide confirm the well-deserved nature of the second star.