Domaine Lafond Roc-Epine Lirac 2014
Generous, layered black fruit on opening: black cherries and blackberries held aloft by underbrush, anise and baking spice aromas. Composed of 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah, Domaine Lafond’s 2014 Lirac Roc-Epine is softly textured, a deep plunge into black fruit and velvety tannins—it’s entirely voluptuous, with no-hard edges, save for spice notes on the finish, […]
Domaine de Boède Les Grès 2009
Succulent notes of smoky plums, marionberries, figs, and camphor with perhaps more ethereal notes of incense, iron, and game. Given the nose, one expects this Langedoc blend of Mourvedre, Grenache, Syrah, and Carignan to be big-boned and brawny on the palate—it comes across as mid-weight, a good thing, I think, tempered by a healthy of […]
Domaine de la Sangliere Côtes De Provence Rosé 2015
Domaine de la Sanglière’s basic Côtes De Provence Rosé is all nervy mineral verve, with the merest touch of tantalizing underripe melon and raspberry shining through. Fruit is nearly absent on the palate, as though it has been brushed clean, or is a layer that has been artfully peeled away. What remains in its place […]
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-St.-Vivant 1999
Breathtaking, transcendant and pure, the 1999 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-St.-Vivant is a woven tapestry of raspberries, cinnamon bark and fresh pastry, along with subtle touches of earth, underbrush, and lilting minerality. More diaphanous than the ’99 La Tâche or Richebourg, the words that this wine conjures are vibrant, ethereal, fine-boned and mineral-edged. This is […]
Château de Roquefort Corail Côtes de Provence Rosé 2015
Château de Roquefort Corail Côtes de Provence 2015″ width=”200″ height=”200″ /></a>An old-school blend of 35% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 25% Cinsault, 5% Carignan, 5% Rolle, and 5% Clairette, Château de Roquefort’s 2015 Corail Rosé dances and shimmers in the glass with abundantly pretty notes of Queen Anne’s Cherries, market strawberries, and fine mineral nuance. It’s quite […]
Château de Berne Pur Côtes De Provence Rosé 2015
The Berne Pur Côtes De Provence 2015 is quite possibly the palest Provençal rosé I’ve seen on the market, clear at the rim with a very pale salmon hue visible at the widest part of the glass, my dinner companions and I wondered if this is because of heightened demand for very pale rosé, it’s […]
Domaine de Marcoux Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2011
The profile of the 2011 Marcoux Châteauneuf-du-Pape screams Grenache, and so it was gratifying to read that the blend is indeed 80% Grenache, 10% Mourvedre, 7% Syrah and 3% Cincault, and the vines are old, averaging 50 years or more. The result is a wine with pronounced red fruit aromas, macerated strawberries and black cherries […]
Mas De Cadenet Arbaude Côtes de Provence Rosé 2014
I recently reviewed Mas de Cadenet’s ‘Mas Negrel’, a complex, creamy-textured Provençal rosé that is aged in oak casks. By contrast, Arbaude reads as the plucky little sister—with a peachy-pink salmon robe and the aromatics to match, it’s an elegant rosé, with genial stone fruit and raspberries, lovely florality and anise pastille. On the palate, […]
Domaine Dublère Corton-Charlemagne 2005
Enjoyed on the Brooks winery patio on a warm not-quite summer’s eve, the 2005 Dublère Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru followed a lithe Muscadet and oysters. Graced with pretty notes of apple tartin, yellow flowers, lemon curd, graphite, and spice, it’s full and round and richly buttery on the palate, with ample intensity and good acidic cut, […]
Mirabeau Côtes de Provence Rosé 2015
Mirabeau’s 2015 Côtes De Provence is a convivial Provençal pink, expressing red summer berries, blood orange, brisk alpine air and talcum powder. As the nose suggests, Mirabeau is light and spritely, with lifted citrusy acidity and lithe minerally backbone. The finish goes on and on, limestone, seafoam, wet pomace, far more mineral expression than fruit. […]