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Boutinot Les Six Côtes du Rhône Villages Cairanne 2016

Boutinot Les Six Côtes du Rhône Villages Cairanne 2016

Grown in ‘agrilo-calcaire’ or chalky clay, Boutinot’s 2016 Les Six Cairanne is composed of 50% Grenache, and 10% each of Syrah, Mourvedre, Counoise, and Cinsault—it exhibits black raspberry, black cherry, Damson plum dried herbs, incense, and spice on the nose. There is too a lovely resinous piney note that reemerges on the finish. In the […]

Boutinot Les Côteaux Côtes du Rhône Villages 2015

Boutinot Les Côteaux Côtes du Rhône Villages 2015

Boutinot’s 2015 Les Côteaux Côtes du Rhône Villages is a cuvée of 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah assembled from cru parcels in Sablet, Séguret, and Cairanne. The nose ripples with baritone, atramentous aromas of black cherry, blackberry, black olives, saddle leather, pain grille, savory herbs, and lilacs. Medium-bodied on the palate with well-integrated tannins—menthol, Tellicherry […]

Domaine Santa Duc Vacqueyras Les Aubes 2010

Domaine Santa Duc Vacqueyras Les Aubes 2010

This bottle disappeared in a hurry—the 2010 Santa Duc Les Aubes is a strapping blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah. Blackberry compote, black olives, smoldering embers, venison terrine, and cracked black pepper form the stratified layers of the nose. Full-bodied, earth and underbrush wash over the palate just before a vein of acidity surfaces […]

Olivier & Lafont Vacqueyras 2015

Olivier & Lafont Vacqueyras 2015

With a nose steeped in black cherries, black raspberries, violet pastille, warm wicker, cigar box, and baking spice, Olivier & Lafont’s 2015 Vacqueyras is made from old-vine Grenache and Syrah grown on the coolest section of Gigondas’ northern slope. Silky on entry with fine fore-palate tannin accented by a nervy jolt of acidity. It’s polished […]

Boutinot Les Six Côtes du Rhône Villages Cairanne 2014

Boutinot Les Six Côtes du Rhône Villages Cairanne 2014

The Cairanne AOC is the Southern Rhône’s newest Cru, and the 2014 Les Six a blend of 50% Grenache, 10% Mouvèdre, 10% Syrah, 10% Carignan,10% Counoise, 10% Cinsault grown in the AOC’s classic hillside terroir of chalk and red clay. It’s a softly textured wine, on the nose and palate, with blackberries, plums, and brambly […]

Jean-Luc Colombo Côtes du Rhône Les Abeilles de Colombo Rouge 2016

Jean-Luc Colombo Côtes du Rhône Les Abeilles de Colombo Rouge 2016

A juicy blend of 60% Grenache, 30% Syrah, and 10% Mouvèdre, Jean-Luc Colombo’s 2016 Rouge “Les Abeilles” is laden in red fruit—a bushel basket of black cherries, macerated strawberries, and rhubarb are followed by lighter notes of underbrush, vanilla, dusty earth, and anise. On the palate, nimble acidity lends brightness and freshness to this softly […]

Domaine Jean Royer Cuvée Tradition Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2014

Domaine Jean Royer Cuvée Tradition Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2014

A blend of 75% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 5% Mourvedre and 5% Cinsault from vines planted in the galet-laden La Crau and Les Grandes Serres lieux-dits, the 2014 Domaine Jean Royer Cuvée Tradition has slight bricking at this stage in its evolution, with layered aromas of black cherry, plum skin, sagebrush, loamy tilth, cigar box, and […]

Paul Jourdan Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve de Leonie 2015

Paul Jourdan Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve de Leonie

A blend of 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah, Paul Jourdan’s Réserve de Léonie Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2015 is an excellent value with overtones of sauvage and earth, leather and tar vying for, and claiming dominance over more subdued notes of plum and black cherry. In the mouth, high-toned acidity makes this a wine that begs to be […]

Pegau Cuvée Réservée Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge 1998

Pegau Cuvée Réservée Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge 1998

Well within its drinking window the 1998 Pegau Cuvée Réservée Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge shows just a touch of bricking in the glass. It unfurls revealing the sort of olfactive charm one might expect from this producer—raspberry coulis, garrigue, loamy soil, leather, and multiflorous layers of dried rose petal and lavender. It’s medium bodied, with an intensity […]

Alain Jaume & Fils Rasteau Les Valats 2015

Alain Jaume & Fils Rasteau Les Valats 2015

Soft, plummy and plush, the 2015 Alain Jaume & Fils Rasteau Les Valats offers ample drinking pleasure. On opening, black cherries, ripe Damson plums, cedar, sweet tobacco and menthol. The palate takes its cues from the nose, with a uniform profile—juicy black fruit cozened in velvety, ripe tannins and tempered acidity. This is a wine […]

CHRISTINE HAVENS
McMinnville, OR

christine@christine-havens.com