La Carbonelle, 2017

A former journalist found Marselan where she'd paid for Grenache, and kept it. Southern French red with fresh red fruit, olive and thyme.

Bright red fruit and a fresh, lively edge, with olive, thyme, tobacco leaf and violet around it, plus a graphite note that shows up every year. The tannins are smooth rather than chewy. It comes from a single hillside plot that Catherine Bernard bought in 2005 and farmed until her retirement.