2018 Liber Pater

Liber Pater, from vines that are located in a rural corner of the Graves region but bottled as Vin de France, feels far removed in taste from a Bordeaux, which is absolutely what is intended by its author (and that seems an appropriate word) Loïc Pasquet, not only because it is unoaked despite being almost entirely Cabernet Sauvignon, but because the 10% rare grapes give an unusually spicy, fresh edge to the flavours. What you get instead is a wine that is savoury, amost stony in feel. There are fruits here, most notably loganberry, redcurrant and pomegrante, but the main focus is dried herbs, aniseed, fennel, tobacco, violet, dried roses and sage, all delivered with an unassuming power. For me the impressive thing is that it might be the (self-styled) most expensive wine in the world, and yet it is far from being the most turbo charged, and that is an extremely difficult thing to resist if you are crafting a wine intended for this price bracket. It has a moreish, palate-hugging pleasure that you want to come back to, and it's a true achievement. Fermented and aged in amphoras.