The Languedoc used to be painted with a very broad brush: it was the hot, arid “wine lake” on the Mediterranean, dominated by cooperatives making rich, rustic (mostly red) wines. But of course, it is more nuanced than that. How can you generalize about a region that covers a half-million acres (about a quarter of France’s total vineyard area), stretching from the scrub-dotted coastline to the thickly forested, mountainous interior? You can’t, especially when you encounter a top-flight producer like Domaine Clavel. For one thing, the estate’s vineyard holdings are diverse and far-flung, reaching from Montpellier to Montpeyroux, some three hours north. Le Mas is their “gateway” wine, yet while it features usual-suspect Languedoc varieties—Grenache, Syrah, and Carignan—it is not a typical Languedoc fruit-and-alcohol bomb. It is wildly aromatic, balanced, and full of lively energy, atypical in the best possible way.