2016 Xavier Vignon Côtes du Rhône Arcane IX Les Amoureux

Community Tasting Notes (12) Avg Score: 90.1 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View fingers's profile
  • Report Issue

  8/24/2023 - fingers Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Pitch dark ruby, almost 100% opaque with no sediment or haze. Hi-toned nose of cherry pie, flowers, a little pipe tobacco. This dances on the tongue even though it is not light on body or texture. The flavors remain in the dark berry realm, along with a little toasted oak and biltong jerky. Medium persistence through the finish. Still impresses me as young and I'll follow this through a second day open and see where it goes.
  After a night open, this has filled out substantially and turned in a modern direction from my perspective. It's much more harmonious with aeration, but also quite rich and fruity with a pretty high abv streak so it's a little more power over elegance. I am tempted to hold my other bottle for a good 3 or 5 years because the stuffing is there for a little beneficial development.
  5+12+16+8= 91

  3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View AllRed's profile
  • Report Issue

  6/11/2023 - AllRed wrote: 87 Points

  Decanted off its sediment and served with Flannery hangers. Cherry and currant fruit dominates, with hints of pepper and dried herbs underneath. Ripe red fruit on the palate with a spice quality lingering on the finish.

  1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View brianschool's profile
  • Report Issue

  10/28/2022 - brianschool Likes this wine: 91 Points

  On the nose, raspberry and tar. On the palate, rasberry cream, black olive, strawberry pie, Mediterranean garrigue, lilac, and mint. The 2016 vintage can lack structure, but Xavier Vignon lets the fruit shine here in a silky, balanced effort of a combination of five AOC’s in France. I believe the aging was in concrete which adds some minerality.
  
  Sourced from parcels in Lirac, Vacqueyras, Gigondas, Rasteau.

  2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Pedroel's profile
  • Report Issue

  4/25/2022 - Pedroel Likes this wine: 92 Points

  XV wines are consistently good to my taste, so this new one reinforces that. Could be a CdP. Can’t find anything that says it’s grenache-heavy, but this tastes like it. It works!

  1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View AllRed's profile
  • Report Issue

  3/2/2022 - AllRed wrote:

  Popped and poured. Red fruit but rather acidic and sour.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

View all 12 Community Tasting Notes

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.