92/100
Speaking (as I was under “Minervois”) of “Syrah-centrism,” that grape also dominates Hecht & Bannier’s 2008 Saint-Chinian, with support from Grenache and Mourvedre. This vintage is also dominated by fruit from schistic rather than chalk-clay vineyards. High-toned kirsch mingles with thyme, arbor vitae, and floral distillates on the nose. Bright, sappy cherry-dominated fruit picks up a vivid sense of crushed stone as well as persisting with smoky peatiness and resinous herbal oils through a gripping and exhilarating finish. (I must point out that tasted alongside, the finished 2007 – on which I reported with such enthusiasm in issue 183 – came off just holding the lower end of my earlier projections, being once again forcefully rich and smoky, but less fun to drink than this 2008). US$22
