Domaine Saint Ferréol is a vineyard located close to Nizas, south of Pézenas. It's run by Jorje and Ania Maslakiewicz, a charming English couple with Polish ancestry. I met them yesterday and tasted their excellent wines at the Christmas market at the Château de Cassan.

It was obvious from the first sniff that these wines, a viognier and a syrah/grenache had seen some really well managed oak ageing. The viognier was really something special, and I'll get back to that wine another day. I brought home a few bottles of course, and tonight I opened the syrah/grenache.

The wine has a brilliant ruby colour. The nose reveals an earthy, complex aroma of prunes, cedar, vanilla, black pepper and black currant. On the palate there's quite a bit of acidity and tannins, with prunes, black currant, cedar and black pepper dominating, and with hints of vanilla and really dark chocolate, all in an autumn forest setting. The texture is elegant and mouth watering, which makes the wine a good companion to a fine dinner.
I had a piece of Cantal Entre Deux with the wine, which was a perfect match. Deer or elk with a mushroom sauce would probably be fantastic.
This is not a typical Languedoc wine, but more reminiscent of a fine Bordeaux. It  would be difficult to find a wine in this style, with this quality for less than twice the price.
I encourage you to visit the St. Ferréol website. You might be tempted to book a week or two in their beautiful vacation villas, right here in wine paradise.
Domaine St.Ferréol