2024 Merlot Pays d'Oc, Château Haut-Blanville

• Style: Medium-bodied, bright Southern French red
• Taste: Strawberry, violet, mineral snap, integrated spice
• Food: Roasted beef, charcuterie, aged cheddar, blue cheese
• Occasion: Weeknight drinking
• Serve: 14–16°C, no ceremony required

In the Glass — Tasting Notes

Ripe strawberry and violet aromas with a mineral snap underneath, clean acidity cutting through plush berry flesh, and a whisper of spice that refuses to shout. This is medium-bodied brightness with red rather than black fruit, and tannins that feel integrated rather than structural. The 2024 vintage benefited from a cooler, later ripening season, and you taste that restraint — pure Merlot expression at its most approachable.

The Winery — Château Haut-Blanville

Bernard and Beatrice Nivollet relocated from Paris to the Languedoc in 1995 to pursue their winemaking ambition, settling in Pézenas outside Montpellier. They established their family domaine in the late 1990s and have steadily assembled a collection of trusted vineyard parcels across the region. The grapes for this wine come from neighbouring vineyards where the Hérault River valley's clay, sand and silt soils — combined with a cooler North-facing slope — coax freshness into the wine. The winemaking keeps things simple: cool, short fermentation in stainless steel, no oak, nothing to obscure the fruit itself. Made under sustainable practices and sealed with screwcap, this wine preserves its primary aromas exactly as intended.

At Your Table — Food Pairing & Serving

This is the kind of wine you'll pour without ceremony, drink with genuine pleasure, and find yourself reaching for again. Roasted beef, charcuterie, aged cheddar, or blue cheese would all find a willing partner here — equally at home with BBQ, grilled dishes, roast dinners, stews, braises, and game. At this price, it's difficult to fault. A reminder that great wine doesn't need depth or age — it needs clarity, balance, and the right glass to share it in. Explore more of what we've found in the Pays d'Oc region, and you'll discover why this corner of southern France remains one of France's most reliable sources for everyday wine worth drinking.