The modern-styled label, with a little sheep sketch, suggests Australia or New Zealand. You even have to turn the bottle around to find a listing of the appellation, Minervois, on the back label. That's so un-French. But, then, the estate is owned by Sir John Hegarty, founding partner of British-based ad agency BBH, famous for Johnnie Walker whisky's "keep walking" campaign. It is, in fact, a modern-styled red, brimming with up-front fruit redolent of plum and blackberry as well as a charred, espresso-like character owing to 16 months in new French-oak barrels. But there's an herbal-licorice undercurrent that gloriously betrays southern France. A blend of syrah and carignan, it is polished and seductively smooth. Beautiful on its own or with lamb loin or beef short ribs.