So few comments on this AOC on WB, but I’ve been enjoying the 2017 Ch. Lavabre ‘La Closerie’ [Pic Saint-Loup] over the last couple of days. It’s excellent! It carries it’s monster 15% abv with aplomb, without heat/flab. This is 70% syrah with the balance grenache, with a bouquet at age 7 of cloves and crushed raspberries. This is the new name for the Puech Haut estate, which, to comply with INAO rules, has to bottle within the AOC, and thus, had to buy the Lavabre estate. I’ve had some of their older wines and they keep/develop well, more akin to CNDP/Gigondas than ‘country’ French reds, which is an unfair pejorative the region got tagged with. For my palate, that whole swath between Provence and Coulioure is ripe for interesting wines, at great prices, perhaps like the NoRhone might have been circa 1978. Tannins on this 2017 are mostly softened, acidity is brighter than the volume might imply, and the finish is lengthy. Heavy, deeply punted bottle with a conventional cork. On my ledger, an easy A- perhaps notching up to a solid A during the Fall/Winter with hearty fare.
I wish this region was easier to find stateside but I really have not had a bad example over the decades. I suppose the importers are keeping standards very high. Information is better in our modern internet era, but I can still recommend Rosemary George’s older book on the broader area.