December 10, 2023 - Drinking peak right now. Lots of berries, light minerality. Tannins have resolved nicely.
January 15, 2023 - Excellent with a pan seared, oven roasted pork loin with mustard, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. wine had notes of pomegranate and cranberry. delicious with the pork.
January 14, 2023 - This wine has developed into something special. Black fruit, pepper, blueberries, cedar, hints of vanilla, balanced tannins. A-
May 22, 2021 - Thanks to TAUTLINEHITCH's note, I decanted for a couple of hours before consuming over a few hours.
I've said it before, I wish I'd have bought and laid down more Cotes rouge over the years. Most of Tablas's wines outside of the lighter whites (e.g. Vermentino, Picpoul) benefit from some bottle time and I've found the Cote reds often benefit from 3+ years in bottle. Kicking myself this was my only one.
I'm a stingy scorer by pro taster-conditioned standards (hey, 86-89 is the "Very Good" range, so an '89' is very nice!), but I had to bump above "Excellent" into "Outstanding" territory.
Everything you could want in an aged southern Rhone, Grenache-led wine. Dark, warm fruit joined by spice (cinnamon and clove) and baked earth, cassis with remainders of crunchy red fruit, mineral framing, plum, kirsch, hints of mint and black olive, cured meats. What a complete wine. No probably containing its 14.5% abv. No heat, just the perfect texture and warmth element.
I've probably underscored it for how it drank.
(Since my cellar conditions run mid-upper 50s winter to mid-60s summer, someone with a perfect 55 cellar can probably wait a couple more years to get roughly the same aged equivalent.)
March 14, 2021 - Drinking very well (purchased 2015)
March 8, 2021 - Black and red fruit, herbal notes, graphite, minerality finishes balanced with a candied jam note. A-
December 29, 2020 - Decanted 45 min or so and drunk with pasta Bolognese. That was last night, should have taken notes then but was too busy. From memory: bright and fresh, spicy young plum or pluot, some currant, whiff of dried herb (marjoram?). Bracing acidity, surprising amount of tannin, very Grenache but other things in the mix too. After 24 hours in decanter, it's less complex, the plum just threatening to go pruny on us, but still nicely balanced. Yesterday, it was absolutely spectacular - shows what Tablas Creek's entry level CdR clone can do with enough time in the bottle. I've been less enchanted with the Cotes bottling in the past - I guess this means I should wait seven years for all of them? Oh well...
November 28, 2020 - Decanted 1/2 hr. Medium body. Consistent tastes of darker fruits & cherry. Good QPR. Quite drinkable.
November 13, 2020 - Bright and a hint of spice on entry. Flavors continue through the mid. Very good finish with a hint of cherry. Looking forward to another bottle of this vintage.
November 7, 2020 - Colour: plum red
Nose: plum, raspberry, cherry. Cassis. Blackberry jam. Dried cranberry. Muscatel grapes. Sweet spice, cinnamon, bitter cocoa. Meaty, salami. Tinned tomato. Candied red fruit. Candied quince. Tobacco. Warm stone. Dried eucalyptus leaf, menthol. Soy sauce. Rich, warm, sweet. Burnt caramel.
Palate: rich, warm, ripe but savoury. Plum, cherry, cassis. Blackberry. Muscatel grapes. Salami. Sweet spice, cinnamon bark. Tabasco? Old oak. Warm stone, earthy. Dried eucalyptus leaf. Soy sauce? Savoury. Moderate fresh berry like acidity; fine grained, drying, structural tannins. Really lovely. Complex. Full bodied, 14,5% alcohol. Seal: natural cork.