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Question: A friend is invited to a tasting dinner of several wines from Brumont; of particular interest are the Montus Prestige and the La Tyre. I’ve done basic homework and found that this is a true pioneer of Madiran and Tannat is the star grape. I’m jealous, as I’ve yet to taste anything from either property so I’d like to ask what your experiences are with these wines.
Answer: Thanks for shedding light on this relatively undiscovered wine region of Madiran in Gascony of southwestern France. Yes, tannat is “the star grape” tending to be aromatic, powerful, and quite tannic! Brumont led by terroir pioneer Alain Brumont is the leading producer of both Chateau Montus & Chateau Bouscasse (older vines) with top wines including south facing high elevation vineyard of 100% tannat in Madiran Prestige (1st in 1985) two years in 100% new oak and since 1990 their expensive south-west highest elevation (260 metres) select tannat grapes from top vineyard La Tyre. Madiran and especially these best cuvees are dark deep big concentrated great wines with good underlying acidity that can benefit from bottle aging. However, more consumers now appreciate a young powerful black fruit statement that this provides in spades early on. With more bottle aging they become more refined elegant and complex. Therefore, are enjoyable at many stages of a long evolution. Tried Madiran a couple of times against tannat from Uruguay (their national grape) which showed a big difference with these in an easier more drinkable style early with much softer riper tannins. Also check out a top Tannat (planted in 2005) from Moon Curser on Osoyoos East Bench in the Okanagan, British Columbia for a very interesting example. The rich dense complex 2018 was picked at 26.8 Brix and comes in at 15 abv with an amazing texture. Excellent write-up on their website. Enjoy!
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