Mas Amiel Maury Rouge 1980
Red Blends | France
Goodness. What can we say? Mas Amiel is an extraordinary experience – mind-expanding. In 2024, their 1980 Millésime earned 96 points from the most serious wine magazine in France. We wish we had enough for everyone on this mailing list. Alas, there are 55 bottles in the warehouse, which we direct-imported ourselves… do not wait.
This is utterly alive in its decadence. A dessert wine from one of the most extreme winemaking regions on earth! Mas Amiel’s 1980 vintage is so ravishing we’ve been pouring little drams around the office (a bottle stays good for up to three weeks if you keep it cool). Even the “I don’t think about dessert wines” people are bewitched. Plus: 96, 95, and 94 point scores. Shipping included on three or more. And just $89.95 – instead of $140 retail – to own this icon of the wine world!
“The two oxidative ones reign supreme, including a 1980 of cold tobacco, dark chocolate and orange peel, which leaves its mark on the palate.” – points, Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France, Revue du Vin de France, 2024
“It’s perfumed, nuanced and complex. On the palate, the wine shows beautiful integration and a soft, lush character with full body, subtle sweetness and no hard edges to be found. Gorgeous!” – 95 points, Jeb Dunnuck
In keeping with Mas Amiel’s techniques for Millésime, which is made only in exceptional vintages (truly, check their website), the 1980 was aged outdoors in glass for one year, then in large oak foudres for OVER TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS before being bottled. It’s a jaw-droppingly rich, envelopingly nutty, insanely aromatic wine. Not only does this taste – we cannot contain our adverbs – shockingly lively 45 years after it was harvested, you can keep a bottle or two in a proper cellar until 2057 if you like!
Maury is a small appellation in the Agly Valley, part of Roussillon in southern France. Blazing sun, rocky soils, and harsh winds create astonishing wines for patient producers who are up for some painstaking work. The composition here is 90% Grenache Noir, 5% Macabeu, and 5% Carignan. This is a fortified wine (like Port) and pours a translucent, medium-chocolate hue that aptly hints at coffee and tea notes. Prepare to be stunned. The flavors are led by chocolate-covered fig and dried cherry. Then come waves of pecan praline, raw walnuts, roasted hazelnuts, sweet Thai iced tea, cardamom, cocoa, dates, and roasted coffee beans. The finish crescendos with peppermint, rich caramel, and a dusting of sunbaked earth that will all stay with you until you climb into bed, satisfied and glowing.
The 40-year-old, goblet-trained vines are on south-facing slopes of decomposed schist and black marl. Mas Amiel’s property dates back some 200 years and is much loved among sommeliers around the world. You can get a taste of its history when you click into the site and scroll down to the About Producer section… It involves a bishop who made a bet. Just don’t get too distracted before ordering, because again, we’re starting with 55 bottles and charging significantly less than the winery.
About the Producer
Mas Amiel’s story begins in 1816 in southern France, in the Roussillon region’s Agly Valley. An 80-hectare property owned by the church had just been lost in a wager by the local bishop. It was soon acquired by Raymond Étienne Amiel, a civil engineer, and the estate took on the name Mas Amiel. Mr. Amiel expanded the grape plantings, organized the property, and continued to sell a modest amount of wine. Eventually, after phylloxera struck, a wine merchant named Camille Gouzy joined forces with Amiel’s son to rebuild the vineyards by grafting onto American rootstocks. It worked, and by 1907, they were crafting the fortified wines for which Mas Amiel has become renowned. The estate later passed through successive owners before being acquired by Olivier Decelle in 1999.
Mas Amiel is still owned by Decelle, and run by the affable oenologist and technical director Nicolas Raffy, who has been there since 2003. The property is now one of Roussillon’s largest estates, consisting of 160 hectares of vineyards divided into 100 different parcels. According to Raffy, the vines have been farmed organically since 2000, certified since 2017, and achieved biodynamic certification around 2020. Approximately half the production goes to sweet, fortified wines, while the rest is made into dry wines. One of the attractions of Mas Amiel is the extensive library of older Maury vintages, and the nonvintage Maurys, which are sold by the age of their youngest components. The dessert wines’ ability to age for decades and remain lively and captivating is extraordinary.
- Blend90% Grenache Noir, 5% Macabeu and 5% Carignan
- CountryFrance
- RegionLanguedoc-Roussillon
- Farming MethodOrganic
- Alcohol16%
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