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2007 Calendal (Philippe Cambie et Gilles Ferran) Côtes du Rhône - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône (11/14/2009)
Tasted at the regular Zachy’s Saturday tasting. I originally did not even notice this wine, as I was there to try a few Italian wines they were pouring. After selecting a very nice Amarone and getting Antonio Galloni to autograph a few books to give as gifts, I went to check out. John Dawson, one of the salemen, ask me if I had tried the Calendal. I said no, and that I had never heard of it. He said it was excellent and I should try it, so I went back, took a taste, and gave it a WOW. Excellent balance, grenache raspberry and syrah cherry with earth shrubbery herbs and spice, nice mouth feel. I picked up the bottle and discovered that it was a Philippe Cambie wine. I had met Cambie in February and his 2005 Clos St. Jean Deus ex Machina and Les Combe des Fous, both of which we tasted that night, are extraordinary wines. The Calendal, as well as the Clos St. Jeans, are modern style wines, I supose, but they are not oak bombs and they are extremely well made, balanced and complex. Cambie bottled a limited number of mags of the Calendal for the US, so I grabbed one of those to bring home (AND IF YOU GUYS ARE LUCKY, I’LL BRING IT TO ONE OF THE BERSERKER-MAG-FESTS). My guess is that in 3 or 4 years this wine will open up and be truly outstanding. (91 pts.)
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