Monday, March 21, 2005
Day three of the Decouvertes en Valee du Rhone was a bit of a scaling back for me. Candidly after two days of non stop tasting, plus two exceptional meals at one and two star rated restaurants on Sunday, something had to give.
Since today was mostly Cotes du Rhone everywhere I opted to stop at the tasting closest to where we’re staying tonight, in Orange. That meant the Chateau Suze la Rousse. Situated high atop a hill overlooking the Rhone Valley, with views in every direction, the old Chateau was actually a wonderful site for a tasting as many of the rooms became ideal places for each winery’s stand.
While there were some 45 wineries represented, each with at least three if not six wines to try I opted to taste a about ten percent of them, as dinner tonight at La Mere Germaine in Chateaunuef du Pape is the goal, while the wines the route to that desire.
Clos du Caillou
2004 Cotes du Rhone La Garrigues Blanc - excellent concentration levels of ripened melons, lemon drop and oranges. Good forward fruit and a long, elegant finish from this blend of Grenache Blanc, Viognier and Rousanne.
2004 Rose – A blend of Syrah, Grenach, Cournise and Mourvedre, this very fresh Rose was loaded with Strawberry flavors on the approach before bright blackberry, raspberry and blueberry came through in the middle. This is a well made Rose and would be great for summer picnics.
2004 Cotes du Rhone – A very traditional Cotes du Rhone. Not much to say other than it was solid.
2004 Cotes du Rhone Les Garrigues Rouge- Good and well made. Black and blueberry fruit. Soft tannins. Easy to drink.
2003 Cotes du Rhone Villages Rouge – Possibly one of the best Cotes du Rhone Villages I tasted today, this stunningly gorgeous wine offered jammy black raspberry, blueberry and plum flavors. A touch of cocoa and black currants rounded out this very complex, rich and delicious wine. Sadly the 2004 release didn’t have the same levels of complexity.
2004 Cotes du Rhone Reserve Rouge – The wine was good, still tight and has lots of potential to improve. It needs a few more months in the barrel before it’s worth evaluating seriously.
Domaine la Milliere
I tasted three of their wines that North Berekely Wine Merchants tends to import. The 2003 Cotes du Rhone Rouge was good, but nothing special, while the 2004 seemed to have more going on in it. Typical forward and easy to drink style with berries and cherries on the palate and a good, long finish. The best wine they made was the 2004 Vielles Vignes Cotes du Rhone. This had the most concentration, minerals and fruit.
Chateau Mont Redon
Possibly offering the best line up of wines today were the wines from Chateau Mont Redon, as they were just spectacular. The 2004 Cotes du Rhone Blanc offered up a very expressive bouquet of spring flowers, was very elegant and extremely well balanced. The mix of low acidity, forward, lush tropical fruit and a long finish actually got me thinking how I missed drinking wines like this every day. The 2004 Cotes du Rhone Rose was equally exhilarating. Made from a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault, the three berries (Raspberry, Blueberry and Strawberry) were all there together in perfect harmony making this wine a wonderfully refreshing palate appetizer. Perhaps my favorite wine of the day was the 2003 Cotes du Rhone Rouge. Showing a deep purple color, the red wine was a darker copy of the Rose in flavor but due to it being the red wine it was more jammy and much more expressive in every department. While Mont Redon may be known only for Chateauneuf du Pape, it’s clearly apparent to me that they should be known for the other wines they produce too.
Domaine Grand Veneur
The wines of Domaine Grand Veneur were very good today. While I found these wines to be all well balanced, well structured and the kind of wines that would make their way into my cellar I don’t think that they will be as well understood as their Chateauneuf du Papes simply because there is so much Cotes du Rhone on the market already and another brand is not what retailers in the USA are looking for. The 2004 Cotes du Rhone Blanc, a blend of Clairette Viognier, Roussanne and Grenache Blanc was very, very good as it offered up lots of vibrant fruit and a solid core of tropical citrus and sub-tropical melon flavors. So did the 2004 Blanc des Viognier. After tasting dozens of Condrieu wines on Saturday, the difference of less than 100 miles was striking. While the Northern Rhone Viognier wines are more floral and tightly structured this Viognier was more expansive on the palate and much more fruit forward. As for their reds, the 2003 Cotes du Rhone Rouge was very good as the blackberry, blueberry and raspberry fruit flavors all came through in gobs, with a lingering finish. Grand Veneur’s 2003 Cotes du Rhone Village was good, but not as distinctive as the regular CdR. That said the best wine they poured was the 2004 Reserve Grand Veneur Cotes du Rhone. This blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Cinsault drank and tasted like a baby Chateauneuf du Pape. Given it has only been in bottle a few weeks this wine will clearly gain strength as time goes on.
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