94+ points Vinous Media
Drinking Window 2028 - 2042
The 2022 Terrasses du Larzac Lous Rougeos captures all the power and textural intensity that is a signature of the vintage at Mas Jullien. Readers will have to be patient, as the 2022 is packed with copious fruit and equally imposing tannins to match. Even so, there is more than enough to make me think all this needs is time to come into is own. Dark-toned fruit, dried herbs, menthol and graphite build in the glass. The 2022 is superbly promising. - By Antonio Galloni on April 2026

Olivier Jullien is one of the trailblazers in the Languedoc. Jullien founded his domaine in 1985 with just three hectares of vineyards. At the time, Languedoc was known mostly for turning out volumes of largely undistinguished wines. But Jullien had a different vision, a vision of an estate focused on sustainable farming, low yields and minimalist winemaking. It was a radical departure from the world Jullien grew up in, where vignerons like his father sold grapes to the local cooperative. This collection of mini-verticals back to 1989 provided a terrific opportunity to taste new releases as well as revisit many older vintages.

Lous Rougeos (Occitan for “Les Rougeots”) is Olivier’s highest-altitude vineyard, a west-facing plot situated above the village of Saint Privat at 400 to 450 meters altitude. Composed of Carignan and Syrah, it is fermented and aged 12 months in fine –grained oak foudre. A beautiful, ringing acidity and freshness carries the drinker’s mind far away from the stereotypical heat of the Languedoc. Olivier has always loved and respected Carignan for its particular affinity to the soils and climate of this part of the Languedoc and for its ability to express profound minerality. This is a don’t-miss wine for those curious to see just how much finesse and verve a genius grower can coax out of a great terroir in the Languedoc. - Importer

Carignan (50%), Syrah (40%), Grenache (10%)

As a boy in the late 70's, Olivier Jullien witnessed the winegrowers' uprisings in the Languedoc provoked by economic difficulties that beset (and continue to plague) small, independent farmers. The Languedoc's vineyards were in a critical state, with decades of over cropping to produce inexpensive wine with little thought coming to a painful but necessary end. The region's youth wanted nothing more than to leave viticulture behind, but Olivier became one of the region's great pioneers. Only 20 years old when he converted some of the family farm's outbuildings into a cellar, he began vinifying and bottling his wines under the Mas Jullien label. Olivier's success was such that he inspired his father to withdraw from the co-operative and create his own winery, Mas Cal Demoura, in 1993.

Today, the Mas Jullien controls 15 ha of vines scattered around the village of Jonquieres, north of Montpellier and 40 km inland from the Mediterranean. The vines grow on the rocky terraces of the Larzac plateau at the foot of Mont Baudille, planted at up to 900 m, at some of the highest altitudes in the region. Our first meeting with Olivier, late in a winter afternoon in the mid-1980's, still speaks to the Domaine's strength today. The encounter was electric with anticipation, enthusiasm, even revolution. There was not much to admire in the Languedoc at that point but here was a creative genius whose moral mandate was to prove the worth of his land. His triumph is to be found in the bottles of wine he has produced and continues to produce that are, quite simply, among the most important and compelling wines of our portfolio. - Importer