Biodynamic rouge. Culled from an assortment of different terroirs – clay-limestone, galets roulés and sandy parcels – Mas de Libian’s cracking entry level is based on high grown Grenache (75%) with roughly equal amounts of Mourvèdre and Syrah (all destemmed). There is also a little fruit from the Estate’s young plantings of two southern Rhône natives; Counoise and Vaccarèse. Hélène tells us that, at this early stage, Counoise is adding complex spice and freshness while the Vaccarèse brings bright cherry fruit and again, freshness. Pétanque refers to the popular Provençal game of boules, and this wine is correspondingly built for early drinking with friends in casual settings. There’s a short five-day maceration and the wine is raised exclusively in concrete tank. It’s bottled unfiltered, with only a smidge of sulphur at bottling (the juice sees no other sulphur). Delicious, crunchy freshness is the name of the game here— a brilliant perfume of red flowers, orange rind and grenadine fill the air when the wine is poured, leading to an crunchy, juicy, electric palate that has all the aforementioned characters plus a lick of fresh lavender and thyme. Simply a delicious picture of the high Ardèche and a stunning value.