Mas Jullien - Terrasses du Larzac Autour de Jonquières rouge 2023

Based in Jonquières, west of Montpellier, Olivier Jullien has used his intuition and intelligence to raise the quality of the region’s wines to the highest level and has inspired an entire generation of young winemakers to follow in his footsteps. He established his estate in 1985, and today it comprises 18 hectares of land with highly varied soils (clay-limestone, silica, sandstone), now cultivated without certification (the estate was certified in the past) using an unlabeled organic farming approach to avoid rigid dogma. Autour-de-Jonquières corresponds to the original terroir of Mas Jullien, on plots consisting mainly of limestone scree. Carlan comes from schist soils at an elevation of 200 to 400 meters, and a new cuvée, Lous-Rougeos, originates from high-altitude terroirs that had been nearly abandoned, at the foot of the Larzac Plateau’s subsidence zone. All the reds rank among the best in the Languedoc and fully embody the region’s character, with notes of sage, garrigue, and thyme complemented by a consistent freshness. They develop slowly and age beautifully. The whites and rosés are equally outstanding.

More than any other winemaker in the Languedoc, Olivier Jullien commands the admiration and respect of his peers. From his vineyards on the terraces of Larzac, he is one of the leading architects of the revival of meticulous viticulture, exploring the interplay and nuances between diverse soil types and the use of indigenous grape varieties. The sincerity of this visionary, who shuns competition, is reflected in his deep, approachable, and generous wines—wines that are distinctly southern in the intensity and diversity of their flavors, rather than simply in the ripeness of the grapes or their illusory alcohol content. Fresh, well-rounded reds, aged with meticulous precision and capable of shining over more than fifteen years of aging, along with a magnificent white wine that defies trends, make this estate a benchmark.