Château d’Or et de Gueules, Trassegum, Costières de Nîmes

Diane de Puymorin and Mathieu Chatain’s 60ha property is amply supplied with old vines (some 40% of plantings are over 50 years old), and the domain produces a wide range of carefully differentiated cuvées. This mid-priced wine is a blend of Syrah with 25% 80-year-old Carignan (vinified by carbonic maceration) and 25% old Mourvèdre. It gets a year in wooden barrels and then eight months in concrete before release. The wine has plenty of alluring, almost smoky plum and bramble fruit and a structured, deep, earthy flavour which finishes with a little herbal twist: well-judged and fine value. Trassegum, by the way, means ‘love potion’ in Occitan.