Community Tasting Note

• jvogel wrote:

  August 26, 2011 - I was absolutely stunned by this, speechless and breathless. An utterly classic 100% Grenache, this was brimming with brett and cheesy funk (it blew off), allspice on bread pudding, black cherry and currants covered in freshly tilled earth, and an inexplicable note of purity I seem to find in nearly all of these successful low/no sulfur wines. And what a mouthful! This was huge, but diplomatically so. In fact, its only corollary–at least in my limited tasting history–is Henri Bonneau’s entry-level Chateauneuf du Pape. The two are strikingly similar, Gramenon with perhaps less of la Crau’s flamboyant réglisse and cassis, but more star anise and toast crust than you get with Bonneau. A hardly acknowledged epidemic in the wine world–vanishing mid-palate weight and structure–has yet to strike here. Profound density prevails throughout, the rich sweetness of Grenache balanced by the horse-y, garrigue nature of a deeply rooted southern Rhone gem. Another riveting example of what the otherwise pedestrian Cotes du Rhone AOC can be in the hands of the willing and capable.

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