The Story:

This domaine has been in the family since 1610, and brothers Phillippe and Pierre Pastor are now at the helm. While many of the producers of the Côtes de Thongue have been trying to go their own quirky way, this is a domaine that has gone in the other direction. They aim to deliver good mass market wines at an affordable price. And the prices are seriously competitive.

As such, they don’t use Côtes de Thongue on the label as their market doesn’t really understand it, preferring to use either IGP Pays d’Oc, or AOP Languedoc, or just Terre du Midi, IGP. What’s on offer is largely unexciting, but they are pitching at a consumer who just wants typicity and a decent price. As such, you can’t really fault them.

Their basic range (le Mas des Cigales - Price Band AA) is happily light on the alcohol (11.5% both for the whites and the rosé) and they say is frequently drunk on private beaches and restaurants; that would fit. Of their single varietals, I’d pick out their viognier (IGP Pays d’Oc- Price Band AA) as a particularly good example of their list; copybook viognier, with floral and apricot notes, and not too heavy.

Standing out for genuine fruit and interest is their single varietal Carignan, from very old vines, hand harvested from the ‘gobelet’ style: this delivers a gorgeous nose, and then fruit and substance, with real character  at a staggeringly good price(Price Band AA).

If the overall list lacks the quirky assemblages you find at other Côtes de Thongue producers, that’s because they aren’t aiming there. Rather Saint Preignan delivers the wines that put Vin de Pays d’Oc back into the supermarkets of Britain in the Nineties; for the prices they charge, the quality is excellent.