WINE REVIEW: 🇹🇳 Magon Majus, Tunisia

Wine: Magon Majus Region: Mornag, Tunisia

Grape: Syrah/Merlot blend (red) Vintage (year grapes were picked): 2008

Price: ¥2387 (£17.76) Alcohol by volume: 13%

Where to buy: 葡萄屋 鶴見店 (Budouya), 1-minute walk north-west from Tsurumi Station

Background

Tunisia is the African country with the most northerly coastline and it shares the west part of the Mediterranean Sea with the biggest wine producers in Europe – France, Italy and Spain. And it’s this northern tip of Tunisia, a place called Cap Bon, where the bulk of wine production occurs - this tip being on roughly the same latitudinal line as both the Costa del Sol and southern Sicily.

Wine production in Tunisia was fairly limited between the year 7AD all the way to the late 1800s because of Muslim rule throughout this period, however after being conquered by the French in 1881 wine production became more common. A lot of the grapes and blends were typically of French variety, hence why you won’t find many local surprises when picking out a Tunisian bottle.

That being said, please don’t write off Tunisia as a B version of France. It has it’s own identity because of its warmer climate. Heading closer to the equator things obviously get hotter, but this increased heat and sunlight means it's a lot easier for grapes to ripen, or sometimes even left to become overly ripe and in doing so taking on dried fruit and even raisiny qualities.

The time of picking plays a massive factor too - if the grapes are picked earlier then they will retain more acidity and contain less sugar. However, as a general trend, warmer climate wines have a fruit profile more influenced by sugar and have greater detectable sweetness, whilst cooler climate wines are higher in acidity, have a fresher character as well as having better ageing potential.

The Wine

First things first – uncorking a wine is tricky at the best of times, but be sure to exercise extra caution with older wines by doing everything a little slower. So being from 2008, please be careful opening here - and investing in a quality corkscrew will save you a lot of stress and money in the long run too.

At first, even before putting your nose in to smell, it’s predominantly dried fruits of prune that jump out from the glass and to look at, this juice has a deep garnet colour - the older a wine gets, the more it loses its youthful purple colour and gradually fades through different shades from burgundy all the way along to brown (although this is usually too far!). To be honest I was a little worried, I’ve had a dried fruit-heavy wine before and it wasn’t really for me. It’s actually reminding more of a port. But give it a swirl and a proper, considered sniff, and there is a whole lot of interesting stuff going on underneath, albeit quite a way underneath.

Were it to be a young red wine, it would have a youthful and vibrant purple colour to it. But as you can see, over time it has changed to this more mature garnet shade.

And taking a sip these more subtle elements come through – there’s chocolate, there’s vanilla, there’s a soft spice with a hint of cloves as well as the dried fruits of prune, fig and cooked red plum. The wine is definitely fully developed and ready to drink now, I wouldn’t store it for much longer. It's already 12 years old at this point and there is little sign of any of its more youthful flavours. Its age and its climate combined give it this prune-forward personality which is drinking well now but personally I wouldn't want it to develop much further. And with its age, the tannins are soft and supple and leave a pleasant sensation in your cheeks and gums.

I’d say this wine is just about dry, although if you have a palate with a preference for bone dry wines, dark dark chocolate and bitter espressos, then you might want to give this one a miss. Also, if you don’t like prunes, please stay away.

It's a little pricey this wine, but given that it's from 2008 and from Tunisia and that it's pretty good quality stuff, you can't really complain. And with older wines it's always nice to think of their journey and place: these grapes were grown in north Africa the same summer I was living it large drinking cans upon cans of Strongbow cider in Newquay after my first year of sixth-form college - who would have thought 12 years later both myself and these old grapes would have made their way to Japan to meet? And during a global pandemic too, life is very strange indeed.