Twenty five bucks.
The first ten minutes were painful. Something dismal like charred oak or reduction so mixed in with the fruit it might as well be corked, sure seemed like charred oak. Letdown that I bought a case of it, and depressing to drink.
Then the oak, or brett, or blood of Mordor, or whatever, all went away. Structured wine. Complex fruit. Savory fruit, not at all simple jam or cherry. I really like this. Hard not to refill. Intellectual enough so as to not call it merely hedonistic. Hedonistic with structure.
Two caveats:
(1) I am the world’s worst judge of Rhone unless it is very easy to understand. I like Chave and Jamet but will buy neither at today’s prices, they are way overpriced on the second market. I like or am intrigued by anything that is pure grenache, from anywhere. Beyond that I am lost. Lower end, or young higher end, Rhone on a warm day to me tastes awful except for the easy ones; maybe even those. Garrigue sometimes to me is as unattractive as herbs in a beer. This wine to me is Rhone-like, where the fruit is almost a little bit challenging in flavor. It feels like an honest entry wine but plenty of power and complexity. Really pleasurable to drink.
(2) It’s possibly all spoof. But if so, BRAVO! you fooled me good. I’m pretty good at spotting spoof, even in wines from places I don’t know well. If this is spoof it’s a lot better done and a lot subtler than an Australian wine with poorly cured American oak and tannins added that taste and feel like aspirin crushed in a mortar (including some very high priced Oz wines). If this were $60 I wouldn’t even mention spoof as a possibility, this just seems like really good wine. If this is not spoof, I have had plenty of worse $60-plus wines.
Unless I hear something really negative I’m going to recommend this strongly to my non-geeky wine-liking friends. With a caveat to air it out. I certainly recommend buying and trying one bottle to anyone reading this.
OK the wine’s been open and in the glass for a while now. Hmm. It came down a notch or two. The dark thing, probably oak, came back in the first half of the palate. The second half, all fruit, is not as brisk and breezy, the tannin is faded, the fruit is richer and fuller but it’s more ponderous. I liked it better at the moment where the initial oak was gone but the wine fruit was still tight. Hmmph.
Good chance this is also just a brief phase. I’ll watch more American Horror Story Season One (Jessica Lange is an un-freaking-believable actor, Emmy material for sure, maybe the best acting I’ve seen anywhere in a while).
It tightened up again in a different way and I really like it again. This is a wine I will not age. The glimpse of it as lower toned was heavy and gloomy and I think that’s what it will become with age.
This is a Cotes du Roussillon Villages if I’m not mistaken. 2013 sounds very young indeed. I’ve not even seen that many 2013 on the shelves here and mine are all still in barrel. It must have been bottled after around 9 months in barrel for it to be in the US now. I definitely would not want to drink one yet. Even the 2012s are still a bit young.
However, it all depends on the way the wine has been made. In the Roussillon we have the luxury, because of the long growing season, to pick fruit early or late, depending on how we want the wine to be. Add to that maceration times and barrel/tank ageing techniques and you have a lot of difference in styles.
From recollection Chapoutier’s offerings are on the ripe side. Smooth, easy tannins and rich fruit. The wines also have a nice wild, earthy character to them typical of the Roussillon. I would not say they are among my favourites or most distinctive but they are always well made and enjoyable. I think they are one of the few Roussillon producers who are widely available in the USA. Often they act as a flag-bearer so it’s great to see it being recommended.
I am personally quite negative on this wine. Have not had the 2013, but will admit to buying the 2012s on a lark after seeing the crazy WA ratings, suggesting these were phenomenal QPRs. At $25, and another bottling is around $15, it was worth the flyer. I found the wines entirely amped up, charred, low acid and really ripe fruit. I’m not sure I would have pegged Cotes du Roussillon, but instead, a very modern CDR or CDP. Now that said, your point about serving to non-geeks that prefer a more modern style of wine, I can see it working. My father like it quite a bit; he happens to like CDP and Spanish Grenache.
Jon, a colleague of mine gave me a bottle of 2011 Domaine Gauby, what can I expect? Not sure I have ever expected $125 for a bottle of Cotes du Rousillon, but really interested in trying this wine.
I think I had the first vintage of this wine and I found it was just a pretty good wine that was a tad monolithic…though I would be interested in trying again
My experience mirrors Counselor Alfert’s. I thought it was an overripe, overoaked, hot mess.
I agree but that is generally what importers thing the US market wants.
Gauby is interesting. They were the forerunners back in the 90s. They have tried to stay ahead of the game by waving biodynamic a Natural flags. IMO they have gone off-track with the son making the wine but every now and then they produce something that is great. There are a lot more reliable producers here.
As I’ve said before, the US market seems to be picking wines based on relationships and what they think sounds cool rather than what will really impress winelovers.