Abbotts & Delaunay Les Fleurs Carignan Vieilles Vignes 2023

With this very beautiful pure Carignan, Laurent Delaunay proves once again what a skilled winemaker he is. The Carignan grape is not necessarily known for its youthful seductiveness. It is a grape that can contain a lot of acids, tannins and bitters, which is why many winemakers only use the grape in blends.

Laurent knows, however, that Carignan harvested from old vines in favourably situated vineyards can produce impressive, concentrated red wine. And selecting suitable vineyards is precisely one of his talents.


Laurent harvests part of the carignan for this Les Fruits Sauvages from vines that are over fifty years old on the estate near Narbonne. For more structure and ripeness, he supplements these grapes with carignan harvested in a vineyard with limestone and clay soils in the Minervois. For freshness and fruitiness, he adds another part of the grapes from a cool vineyard in Corbières.

After fermentation, he matures this balanced blend for 80% in oak barrels, of which a small part new. It produces a beautiful, full red wine, with a perfect balance between juicy fruit, ripeness and a powerful, velvety structure. With its notes of blackcurrant, plum, fig, garrigue and mocha, this is a delicious wine for lamb stew, game or matured cheeses.