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French red wine values tasted in 2003

The selected vibrant bottlings have given me much pleasure for the price. I have purchased them again for personal consumption. Featured values include 5 bottlings from the Midi and 4 Rhônes, and Domaine de Pierredon.

The below wines were tasted in France, in 2003 (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 — 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, a little hard on the finale

Madiran — Denis Capmartin — Château Barréjat — (bag-in-box)

2 € — Non vintage — the enormous red fruit shows more than in the Tradition cuvée, the wine is more open - red fruit dominates the nose - much fruit, dense, tannic, dries the palate and the tongue (this wine should not suit delicate taste buds)

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

2 € — Non vintage — pleasant yet commonplace/ordinary, incomplete ripeness - 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

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

— 2002 — serve it cool - easy-going, not much onctuosity, cherry, dense, out of focus, pleasant but with a stiff hint

Vin de pays du Jardin de la France — A.Michel Brégeon — Cabernet - (cuve)

— 1994 — a nose of cherry, red pepper and mushroom - red pepper on the palate, firm but light

Vin de pays du Var — Domaine L’Estagnol

4 € — 2002 — cherry dominates the nose - dense, cherry, dries the palate, more tannic than the Bordeaux S.F.V. A F 69220

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

— 2001 — the easy-going mouth shows much fruit and a mineral or dry note, lacks focus

Madiran — Denis Capmartin — Château Barréjat — Tradition

5 € — 2000 — coffee and roasting dominate the nose - the palate is fruity (blackcurrant), roasted, and balanced: the wine is less open than Estézargues but more tannic and fresher, tightens the taste buds (healthy effect) - to be also compared to the 1999 vintage tasted at the same age)

Côtes du rhône — Domaine du Vieux Colombier

— 1999 — conforms to the Rhône standard - smells of garrigue - fruit, balance

Coteaux varois — Domaine Les Maurels

— 2001 — character - the nose is dominated by chicken shit, or at least farmyard (Brettanomyces?): not disagreeable to me and the other guests - nice if a bit hollow and thin

Côtes du rhône — André Brunel — Cuvée Sommelongue

— 2001 — on the nose: lead pencil, liquorice, garrigue - on the palate: lead pencil, liquorice, little black fruit

Côtes d’auvergne — Domaine de Peyra — Vieilles vignes [clay-basalt] — Non filtrée (sans soufre) - [gamay]

— 2001 — on the nose: spice, orange, and liquorice - onctuous, the fruit typical of a low-temperature winemaking (coulis of red fruit, sorbet, smokiness), fresh, pure - the persistance shows spice, orange, and smokiness

Bourgogne-hautes-côtes-de-nuits wine labelBourgogne hautes côtes de nuits — Domaine Patrick Hudelot — (Pinot noir, à la propriété / sans nom de cuvée en grande distribution)

— 2001 — On the 1st day: tasty without a big density - the cherry nose is fresh, classical Burgundy, with a roastbeef edge - intensity of flavour, cherry, rostbeef, very dry, juicy, no unripeness or manipulation, dries the palate and the gums - an aftertaste of cherry -
- On the 2nd day : a nose of morello cherry - cherry taste, holds its alcohol well, dries the palate and the gums

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

— 2002 — a nose with cherry and blackberry - big impact on entry, cherry and blackberry, silky with a mineral note, clean and balanced (to be compared to the 2001 vintage tasted at the same age)

Ajaccio wine labelAjaccio — Clos d’Alzeto — (Tradition)

— 1997 — wood varnish (but agreeable), blackcurrant, evolved fruit - evolved fruit, old casks, juicy - dries the taste buds

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