2010 Château de Berne Côtes de Provence Grande Cuvée

Community Tasting Notes (1) Avg Score: 75 points

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  12/27/2018 - forceberry wrote: 75 Points

  If I've understood correctly, this is the last vintage of this wine that was bottled in the square-shaped bottles of Château de Berne. It is a blend of Syrah (90%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (10%). Aged for 12 months in oak barrels. 13,5% alcohol.
  
  Deep, brooding blackish-red color that permits only very little light through. Massive, heavily oak-driven nose with unctuous aromas of toffee, mocha, milk chocolate, some dill, a little bit of pruney dark fruit, a hint of caramel and a touch of coconut. The smell is rather horrible here, really, with very little in the way of fruit. The wine is full-bodied, tightly-knit and rather tough on the palate with ripe, powerful and extracted flavors of toasty oak spice, milk chocolate, some toffee, a little bit of ripe dark plum, light peppery notes, a hint of cherry marmalade and a touch of extracted woody bitterness. Overall the wine is impressively structured with its high acidity and assertive, grippy tannins, but since the muscular structured is counterpointed by extracted, woody oak, the wine feels like it is lacking the actual "wine" component. The finish is sweeter-toned, dense and very tannic with robust, extracted flavors of bittersweet dark chocolate, toffee, some dill, a little bit of sunny dark fruit, light strawberry jam tones, a hint of blueberry and a touch of vanilla.
  
  A horrible, over-extracted oak monster with no sense of balance, finesse or harmony. This feels like a blend of oak extract and alcohol with a dollop of strawberry jam and some prunes just for taste. A winemaker's wine if there ever was one, and even rather poor excuse at that. I doubt no amount of cellaring will make this wine feel any less unbalanced. A big disappointment and waste of money at 31,50€.

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