2013 Domaine Anne Gros & Jean Paul Tollot Les Fontanilles Minervois 750 ml

Parker: “A Classic Beauty”

The Minervois estate of Anne Gros and her partner Jean-Paul Tollot is quickly becoming a favorite for Wine Access clients — and with good reason. Gros is, in the words of Jancis Robinson MW, “one of the most respected winemakers in the world.” Our first offering from their label, 2012 “50/50,” astounded us all with a depth and purity rarely found in under-$20 wines. Now we’re upping the ante with this 2013 Anne Gros & Jean Paul Tollot Les Fontanilles — a gorgeous single-vineyard red. Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate called it “drop dead gorgeous” and pinned on 93 points. Elsewhere, this wine sells for $32, at $15.99 from Wine Access today we call it an incredible value. Recommended by the case.

In 2006, after years of success in Burgundy’s famed Vosne-Romanée, Anne Gros built this estate on the limestone soils of Minervois with her partner, winemaker Jean-Paul Tollot. When Jancis Robinson asked Gros why someone with her amazing Burgundian pedigree would head to Minervois, she replied, “Because I’d turned 40 and needed a new challenge.”

That “challenge” has turned into a critical darling. The 2013 Anne Gros & Jean-Paul Tollot Les Fontanilles Minervois is a monumental single-vineyard red that had The Wine Advocate gushing over its “creme de cassis, black raspberry, caramelized cherries, vanilla bean and a saline-like minerality,” capping off a 93-point review by calling it “fine, elegant and seamless, with incredible purity,” “a classic beauty.” This might be the very definition of a true value.

But all this praise has certainly come with a price. Rather than making things easy by snatching up an existing Languedoc domaine, the couple built an ecologically sound house from scratch. The wide age range of the commune’s vines planted in limestone-rich soil proved irresistible to Gros. So did its elevation, which matched Gros’ property in Vosne-Romanée. As The Wine Advocate wrote, “This is a gorgeous, diverse terroir, and Anne is certainly making the most of it.”

So it should go without saying that as far as under-$20 wines go, offerings like this are few and far between. The 2013 Les Fontanilles, grown from 25-year-old Syrah and Grenache and 50-year-old Carignan and Cinsault, puts Minervois’ best on display. Elegantly fashioned by two of Burgundy’s greatest winemakers, it’s no wonder The Wine Advocate was impressed.

Adam Lapierre MW