Medium crimson color. The aromas are moderately intense, offering more red fruit than black, along with some pleasant earthiness and a background herbal component (sage?). The palate is fairly light in body but with satisfying roundness. The flavors now tend more towards black fruit than red and there is some minerality along with the earthiness. I don’t remember having a Cannonau before and this is certainly a good wine, with good freshness and balance, although not particularly long. In style, it’s as if somebody poured a slug of Priorat into a good Cotes du Rhone. Rated 88.5 and worth the $18 I paid.
Nice! I also had a Cannonau over the weekend, the 2012 Cardedu. Nice texture, depth of fruit, and still nimble – a lot of what I like in grenache, without extreme pepperiness or the heaviness that can be associated with the heavier styles.
I also go through about 6 - 12 of these a year, including the '13 lately. It’s readily available at all of our gov’t run retails stores, ranging from $15 - $17 CAD (depending on sales), which is about $12 - $14 USD. In a market that’s often US retail + 50%, I find the price of this wine very fair, and its been a crowd pleaser when we have friends over. I agree generally with your note, red fruit and I often get a little brett which I find pleasant via a little old leather note on the nose.
Agreed. Always a little brett (leather + a hint of barnyard) on this one, and occasionally I’ll hit a bottle where it’s too much, but overall I love the wine at the price point (I just picked up a case of the 2013 for $13.) The wines also always seem a bit “advanced” to me, as if they’ve been made in a slightly oxidative style, giving some of the character that normally only comes with a bit of age.