2019 Domaine Berthoumieu Vitis MCM Madiran 750 ml

A wine seemingly tailor-made for fans who like their reds saturated, burly, intense, and long-living, the 2019 Domaine Berthoumieu Vitis MCM Madiran—which boasts 95-point Cellar Selection honors from Wine Enthusiast—stands with Napa and Bordeaux wines with triple-digit prices. 

The first vintage we offered racked up big-time raves that echo that value: One member noted it “held its own following Bevan Cellars EE Tench Vineyard”—a wine that fetches $225+. 

This wine is made with 100% Tannat—the Clydesdale of French red grapes. In the past, Tannat was cultivated in such a rustic manner that locals would say you needed a fork and knife to drink it. In recent decades, however, producers have been making wines with vastly greater accessibility and depth. “Anyone with a serious interest in wine should keep a keen eye on developments in this often underrated, proud Gascon winemaking outpost,” wrote critic Jancis Robison of Madiran.

Almost no one brings as much style and panache to the grape as Domaine Berthoumieu. Founded in 1850, this estate is currently helmed by sisters Claire and Marion Bortolussi, who took the torch from sixth-generation owner Didier Barré, an iconic figure in Madiran.

The Vitis MCM cuvée is made from vines which, astonishingly, were planted in 1900 (hence the Roman numerals), investing their fruit with both immense concentration and sculpted finesse. Extreme care is taken in vinification, as grapes are destemmed and fermented for 30 days in cement tanks, where micro-oxygenation helps soften the wine’s stiff spine. After 18 months of aging, including a year in new French oak, it’s been resting and slowly uncoiling in bottle—and it’s got decades of aging ahead of it.