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French red wine values tasted in 2002

The selected vibrant bottlings have given me much pleasure for the price. I have purchased them again for personal consumption. Featured values include 7 bottlings from the Rhône Valley.

The below wines were tasted in France, in 2002 (between April and December). The tasting notes are listed by increasing prices, with the following format:

Appellation – producer – plot or brand – variety

Approximate price — vintage — general impression – on nose – on palate – after swallowing

Vin de pays d’Oc — les producteurs réunis, 11100 Narbonne — Vieilli en fût de chêne — Cabernet sauvignon

— 2001 — fun but unsubtle, well made but simple, perfect for a barbecue - a plain nose - a big impression in the mouth, healthy fruit holds out against the power of winemaking (impact, vanilla), balanced, no plant note

Bordeaux wine labelBordeaux — S.F.V. A F 69220 — Bordeaux

— Non vintage — a nose typical of Médoc: green pepper and the smell of an ivy patch when you tear it off the wall - a palate with tar, under-ivy, green pepper, not much dense but balanced - a short persistance

Madiran — Denis Capmartin — Château Barréjat — (cubitainer)

2 € — Non vintage — the (red) fruit shows more than in the Tradition cuvée, the wine is more open, and as pleasurable

Vin de pays du Jardin de la France — Domaine de la Pépière - Marc Ollivier — Côt (= malbec)

— 2001 — transparent wine-making - ice cream, sweet pepper - fur, fruity (like a fruit juice, not like a concentrate), light, pure - spicy

Vin de pays du Pont du Gard — SCA les Vignerons d’Estézargues — Cuvée des galets - Non filtré

— 2001 — a pleasant and easy guest, bursting with flavour, should be drunk this year - the nose is dominated by red fruit - the wine is dense in the mouth, candyish, velvety, fresh

Côtes-du-rhône wine labelCôtes du rhône — SCA les Vignerons d’Estézargues — Domaine de Pierredon

— 2000 — a smell of brandy cherry - blackberry, the palate dense but balanced, lighter than Domaine d’Andézon (report below), dries the mouth - blackberry, alcohol heat

Madiran — Denis Capmartin — Château Barréjat — Tradition

5 € — 1999 — a nose of coffee, blackcurrant, and sweet pepper - a palate of little black fruit, liquorice, a little muddled but fresh, dries the teeth - a lead-pencil long aftertaste

Vin-de-table [Ardèche] wine labelVin de table [Ardèche] — Mas de la Bégude - Gilles Azzoni — Hommage à Robert

5 € — Non vintage — balance and intensity of fruit - fruity, blackcurrant, vinous - very fruity, the fruit typical of a cold fermentation, strawberry, sorbet of cherry and bilberry flavours, pure, juicy and fresh, dries the mouth a little - an aftertaste of blackcurrant

Côtes du rhône — SCA les Vignerons d’Estézargues — Domaine d’Andézon — (syrah 70%)

— 2000 — on the palate the wine is fruity and warm, the structure is standard but with more edges than Domaine de Pierredon and Domaine La Montagnette - the end is marked by alcohol heat

Côtes-du-rhône-villages wine labelCôtes du rhône villages — SCA les Vignerons d’Estézargues — Domaine La Montagnette

— 2000 — smells of garrigue herbs, blackberry sorbet, lead pencil, liquorice, roasted - onctuous, the fruit typical of a cold fermentation, warm with alcohol yet fresh, lighter than Domaine d’Andézon, pepper, drying tannins, a burnt taste - chocolate, coffee with milk

Vin de table de France — Domaine de Peyra — Les puys — Non filtrée (sans soufre) - [gamay]

— 2001 — balance is straighter than in Les liens - smoked, cherry, cheese, clove, mint chocolate - onctuous, cherry, fresh, smoked, clove - venison, smoked

Côtes d’auvergne — Domaine de Peyra — Les liens — Non filtrée (sans soufre) - [gamay]

— 2001 — entertaining - fur, stewed cherry, toffee, moss, apple - merry, roast beef (reduction), clove, stewed cherry, apple, more buttery than Les puys - clove, grapefruit, roast beef

Côtes du rhône brézème — Jean-Marie Lombard — Grand Chêne

— 1997 — smells of blackcurrent and fur - violet, red fruit, fur, ample, fresh, tannic

Saint-chinian wine labelSaint chinian — Jean-Marie Rimbert — Les Travers de Marceau

— 2001 — a nose with blackberry sorbet and garrigue - bright and juicy fruit flavours, strawberry and lemon, powerful yet fresh, with a hint of plant bitterness

Chinon wine labelChinon — Bernard Baudry — Cuvée du Domaine — [cabernet franc]

8 € — 2000 — a nose of ripe fruit, blackcurrant - a palate fruity (like a fruit juice, not like a concentrate), fresh, less fat than same-year Granges or Grézeaux, more elegant, dense, balanced, dries the palate - ripe fruit, jam, sticks on the teeth

Côtes du rhône brézème — Jean-Marie Lombard — Eugène de Monicault

— 1997 — consider decanting, harmonious - violet, chocolate, plum, berries - vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, fresh - berries, short

Faugères — Domaine Léon Barral — Tradition

— 1999 — served cooled - cold red fruit (typical of a low-temperature type of wine-making), garrigue, pepper - round on the attack, fruity, juicy but tannic, fresh - very fine tannins, stalk

Bourgueil — Joël Taluau — Cuvée du Domaine — [cabernet franc]

— 1996 — should be still aged, tasted after aeration in decanter - red and black fruit - onctuous, complete, a plant note, fresh

Chinon wine labelChinon — Bernard Baudry — Croix Boissée — [cabernet franc]

14 € — 2001 — little red and black fruits - ripe fruit, a powerful structure yet very fresh (acidity is at 4,15 g/l) - black fruit, very long

Chinon — Bernard Baudry — Croix Boissée — [cabernet franc]

14 € — 2000 — aging potential - toffee, fruit - very fruity, firm tannins, chewy, limestone, gravel - long

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