This was a stumper served blind. I thought Southern Rhone. There was an earthy, cedary note in the nose but something that said grenache to me. (The flavor profile, acid and tannin reminded me a tad of the 2012 Chauvin Chateauneuf I had last night without the alcohol kick.) Nothing vegetal/cab franc-ish at all.
In the mouth, I would describe it as a bit diffuse, the way grenache can be – without a focused, structured core. That wasn’t a complaint in my case. I thought this was lovely now, with fresh, bright, reddish fruits and a very mild tannins. Beautiful wine. Just what I want in a Chateauneuf [sic]. I was amazed it was from the Loire. 92+ points for me.
I wonder now how my 05 Raffault Les Picasses is coming along. I recall that as much more tannic three years ago.
Wish i had some of this. I like Coulaine’s lower end bottling a lot, but the Picasses seems to be hard to come by where i live for some reason.
I did have a bottle of 05 Olga a couple of weeks ago. Very open and tasty, with the tannins just beginning to budge a little bit. Can’t really compare it to the Coulaine, alas.
Huh, interesting - I was thinking of opening this or the '05 Coulaine Clos de Turpenay for my blind tasting group last night, but figured both might still need more time, so went with an '07 Baudry Grezeaux instead. Sounds as if I should check into one of those '05s though…
Very interesting. Rare that I mistake Loire CF for something else. That said, the last few '05’s I’ve had have shown very odd and without the varietal character I expect. I’m holding all '05s right now.
It’s funny because the 1997 Smith Madrone cab – 100% cab sauvignon – that was also served blindly was the wine that seemed to have a marked cab franc component. (I posted on that separately.) Go figure.
I saw that note too John! That is funny. Those are both wines I’d expect to like. Big fan of CF, and maybe even that spot where CF character meets CS character.