May 4, 2024 - Coravin fun - Brunel Cailloux + ring in s (My place, Burwood): From Coravin. Cedar, polished oak, touch of sandalwood, gariggue; lavender, herbs, fruit muted; a little red berries, sweet and savoury spice, the latter showing a little pepper, fruit grows with time, a little cream. Chewy, dense and slightly drying grippy tannins frolic with the ripe red fruits, touches of garrigue and alcohol warmth around the palate. A little on the large side of me but I can see this playing very nicely with caramalised pork belly
March 28, 2024 - Consistent with previous note. Big, hot, flabby, jammy. Not my style, but regrettably the predominant style in CDP these days.
February 3, 2024 - Had this in the cellar since 2012. Should have opened earlier. Medium purple, fading at the edges. Can't find any fruit on the nose or on the palate. Not unpleasant but not at all rich like other CDPs. Austere is the word that comes to mind. It did complement a pork shoulder better that would a heavily fruited wine. Drink up
February 1, 2024 - This must have been a heck of a lot better in 2013 when Jeff Leve gave it 93 and GOBLUE2002 gave it 90. Today it is your typical Southern Rhone jam monster that has aged poorly, flabby, lacks acid and is alcoholic. I'm not sure why I aged this, found it in my cellar while doing inventory and groaned, plus I have one bottle remaining which I'll likely drink or use for cooking by summer.
August 2, 2023 - NobleRottersSydney - 2010 & prior (Fix, St James, Sydney): {cork, 14%} [Paul] Warmly developing nose of leather and old red fruit, little obvious oak. Warm and cuddly palate, with rich blackberry fruit, liquorice, plenty of balancing powdery tannins, medium acidity. Blurry, luxurious texture, medium/full in weight, with a medium-long finish. Among the favourites on the night.
July 29, 2023 - Drinking beautifully right now. Garrigue, dark berries, smoky, earthy, savory. Will keep for a few more years.
August 7, 2022 - Sunday lunch with the Wine-Ark boys (Porcine, Oxford Street): Gamey, meaty, slightly bretty, raisins, dark hued fruits with a red fruit underpin, smidge of garrigue and leather. Juicy, savoury, slightly chalky tannins are quite drying, again dark hued fruits, slight alcohol, smidge of fruit tea, quite savoury and almost bitter finish but rather lovely for me.
January 6, 2022 - Lighter CNdP but still very enjoyable indeed.
Good fruit, mostly red; lovely mid weight texture not excessive acidity.
April 7, 2021 - NobleRottersSydney - Blind Options something unusual (Fix, St James, Sydney): {cork, 14%} [Geoffrey] Mid-garnet with some translucence. Developing/maturing bouquet of compost and aged red fruit. Revealed, Grenache makes sense. Smoky palate, little oak influence, with savoury but ripe red flavours and a distinct spiciness. Medium gritty tannins, medium weight and acidity. Finishes medium length and a little warm. Not too rustic. Bit of a dip on the mid-palate maybe. Probably didn’t get quite the attention it deserved as the night wore on. Still I think this has about as much development in it as it’s likely to get. Drink soon.
January 6, 2021 - decanted 30 min, in the glass for 3 hours. full deep red; nose is forest-ey, cedar & brown spice, sweet ripe red cherry; grainy, med+ weight; early on w/food, still ebullient fruit was on point at the table, ripe moderated tannins, acids. a bit riper than preferred on it's own, though thoroughly consistently house style.
middle-aged, which is where this cuvée is best for me.
pork chile verde, cornbread; angst