2018 Coteaux du Languedoc Tete de Belier

Full bottle 1,649 g. 70% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 8% Mourvèdre, 2% Carignan. Varieties vinified separately and aged in oak barrels and demi-muids. Grilled berries and plums, which are aromatic and herb-scented on the nose, rich and syrupy on the palate with a strong current of coffee liqueur. Even spitting, this wine clears the nostrils. Wasabi and cherry-blossom grace notes over an outrageously powerful, huge sumo-wrestler of a palate. This burns like hot smoked chillies, but even as you're backing off, it loops a red-velvet belt around you and pulls you back in with rose petals dipped in pomegranate syrup, Turkish delight, cherries in melted chocolate, cumin-chocolate-coffee ganache. Bewilderingly heady and rich. It's too much and it's over the top and yet it is in perfect balance. The tannins could not be more precisely sculpted, they could not be more silky, more defined without holding anything back. You need to love huge wines to appreciate this, but you'd need to be particularly prejudiced against big wines not to recognise the complexity and balance of this dragon. The perfect wine for a Korean pulled-pork bun, but pour a thimbleful. (TC)