The world is changing. I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, I smell it in the air. That's how the Lord of the Rings movies begin, and that's how I sometimes feel when I travel. Of course, these words have a special meaning right now. Earlier this year, when I wrote these lines, I was thinking more about climate change and how what was is not what is. One grape variety that has particularly benefited from the change in our climate is Carignan.

Carignan is not rare. The variety was once the most widely grown grape in France, and even in Spain one can still find large areas planted with the variety. In the 20th century, however, it was no longer in vogue, and when I research the literature about the variety, I find many negative comments. There are two reasons for this. First, Carignan ripens late and needs a long, warm summer to mature. Also, Carignan has often been mistreated. Yields were too high and processing at the winery was often ruthless.

In recent years, however, there have been great advances in cellar processing, and rising temperatures are ensuring that Carignan will ripen sufficiently. When other wines from the south of France are getting rounder and fatter, Carignan retains great freshness even in the hottest summer.

One Carignan that I particularly like comes from Domaine Sainte Croix in Corbieres, France. The grapes come from 115-year-old vines and the wine combines rich fruit with grip and freshness on the palate. Husband and wife team Jon and Elizabeth Bowen have a particularly good hand for the grape variety. They work organically in the vineyard here, yields are very low, and everything from picking to bottling is done by painstaking hand. The wine shows where Carignan can go in the changing world.

Aromas of ripe cherries, blackberries, smoke and herbs rise from the glass. On the palate, the wine is both rich and wonderfully refreshing with a long finish that encourages you to keep drinking.

92/100 points Konstantin Baum