Tasting on Day 2. Nose is intriguing - brambly, meaty, some bandaid. Really quite interesting. Mouthfeel gives a textured, quite deep, red fruited experience. The finish is quite long and shows well with perfectly balanced, ripe but lifted fruit. This is showing even better than last bottle. As I noted before, the wine was quite unsettled at first bottle; time has paid off. Full case purchased as cellar defender. Quite pleased in that regard, as I believe the wine will continue to improve and give a wonderful drinking experience over the next few years for US $34.
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Wonderful juice - even more delightful than first bottle. Some of its "wildness" has settled down. Look forward to enjoyable drinking over the near term.
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edit: so much better on day 2. The depth of the perfume, its interplay with the fruit and the pepper of the (I presume) stems is really quite seductive. I imagine this could even go a few more years with no worries, but it's so good right now.
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PNP. Cork perfect. Color is dark purplish garnet. This vintage is very definitely gamay. Great fruit, great balance, and approachable now but will certainly hold for a few years. Delish
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The aromas are very pretty, showing lots of pulverized cranberry meat... not blended... it's still quite pulpy in its expression of the fruit. This is coupled with beautiful tinges of rocky minerals and soil notes. It's like hiking along a ridge, where the top soil just meets the point that the ridge gets too steep and looses the topsoil, becoming just a granite, rocky ridge. The palate is all incredibly juicy, high toned red fruit, but it is absolutely permeating with rocks and minerals. Perhaps a bit of bulls blood in there, too... definitely iron rich. Absolutely searing acidity is present on the palate. The finish is frothy and then that acid begins as a light line of the crest of a wave, and then the wave crashes and completely pummels your whole senses, and everything is a wash of salt water salinity and ripping mineral driven acidity. These acidic, mineral driven notes are what's held on for a minute afterwards, with just the slightest color red inflected upon them... not even a fruitiness... just a color red. A marvelous wine, and always such a pleasure.
Every year I consider buying the new vintage of La Souteronne I wonder, "is this really worth that price?" and then every year I drink it I think, "Man, this is SO good for the price! I have to buy it again next year!" This wine is a fairly singular experience, so it's always so much fun. Yeah, sure it has a lot of familiar elements of all the things it reflects, but it is always packaged up so uniquely and it's SUCH a fun wine to drink. Tonight I was just walking through the cellar pulling random bottles thinking I wanted a "high acid red." Everything I pulled I put back... and the second I put my hands on this I thought, "yup, that's it!" Mission accomplished.
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YS's wedding after-party: Jammy, overtly fruity nose that settled down with air. Stylistically this would be an intellectual Bojo, a serious sort of Gamay closer to the Syrah end of the spectrum with some pepper notes and dark cherry fruit. Previous vintages seemed to have more structure, maybe needs more time?
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Au Monarque. Du fruit rouge léger et éclatant au profil un peu sauvage se terminant dans une finale étonnamment poivrée. Du gamay qui évoque sans détour la syrah, excellent. 90-91
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Dark blueish red color. Rich and fruity Beaujolais like aromas, with ripe strawberries and something in direction of Côte-Rôtie, with its bacon fat mark. Full bodied and compact on the palate, but also fresh, generous and appealing. May of course be cellared, but is irresistible now.
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Similar to note on 4/1 but this bottle felt a touch lighter, needs a good chill on it to show fresher, more mushroom and white pepper on this one along with a dusty granite component, I'm a little fearful of this turning mousey; this one sourced from West Coast rather than through normal channels within the state, lets see how the others shake out.
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This wine always delivers so much pleasure, and really overdelivers for the roughly $25 I pay for it. It is always a hit with a mixed crowd, too, as it's both geeky and delicious.
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Tasted on opening - was a bit closed and muted. Then ran through an aerating decanter and gave it 1 hour while enjoying pre-dinner beers. Had no idea what to expect and was very pleasantly surprised. Great balance (flavor, tannin, acidity) for a young wine, the depth of flavor hints at some interesting evolution with time. Will try to use restraint for a couple of years but that will be a challenge given how delicious this is now. Fairly priced at ~$30.
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Magenta in color with a lovely and somewhat wild nose of dark berry fruit, a little leather-animale brett, stone, violet, and lavender.
Midweighted and dark fruited for Gamay. This has lovely lift and crunchy yet fresh and detailed fruit. Quite stony. Savory notes come out after a couple hours of air. This has intensity coupled with freshness, complexity with a playfulness. Terrific acid balance keeps it fresh. Quite long and delicious. One to please the intellect and palate.
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Pepper, raspberry, blackberry, cherry, nutty lees, a little smoke and toasty spice. Gorgeous juiciness, velvety texture, lively acids, easy and gulpable, long and spicy. So good. Gamay hardly gets better.
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Wow this was the best wine for pairing with so many things this evening, bass with spicy peppers, farm egg, and anything else we threw at it, so aromatic and persistent with acids that compliments as fruit cushions, lots of blue and purple fruit with strong granite influence and violets and lavender galore, very clean and delicious.
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12/24/2023 - North Willis Likes this wine: 92 Points
Tasting on Day 2. Nose is intriguing - brambly, meaty, some bandaid. Really quite interesting. Mouthfeel gives a textured, quite deep, red fruited experience. The finish is quite long and shows well with perfectly balanced, ripe but lifted fruit. This is showing even better than last bottle. As I noted before, the wine was quite unsettled at first bottle; time has paid off. Full case purchased as cellar defender. Quite pleased in that regard, as I believe the wine will continue to improve and give a wonderful drinking experience over the next few years for US $34.
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6/5/2023 - North Willis Likes this wine: 92 Points
Wonderful juice - even more delightful than first bottle. Some of its "wildness" has settled down. Look forward to enjoyable drinking over the near term.
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3/9/2023 - topherwhatever Likes this wine: 92 Points
strawberries and pepper
edit: so much better on day 2.
The depth of the perfume, its interplay with the fruit and the pepper of the (I presume) stems is really quite seductive. I imagine this could even go a few more years with no worries, but it's so good right now.
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2/24/2023 - TXRhoneRanger wrote: 93 Points
Consistent with previous notes albeit slightly less POP.
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2/15/2023 - MasterWis Likes this wine: 92 Points
Absolutely gorgeous in all aspect with a killer finish
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1/25/2023 - chcook Likes this wine:
PNP. Cork perfect. Color is dark purplish garnet. This vintage is very definitely gamay. Great fruit, great balance, and approachable now but will certainly hold for a few years. Delish
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1/17/2023 - David Paris (dbp) wrote: 92 Points
The aromas are very pretty, showing lots of pulverized cranberry meat... not blended... it's still quite pulpy in its expression of the fruit. This is coupled with beautiful tinges of rocky minerals and soil notes. It's like hiking along a ridge, where the top soil just meets the point that the ridge gets too steep and looses the topsoil, becoming just a granite, rocky ridge. The palate is all incredibly juicy, high toned red fruit, but it is absolutely permeating with rocks and minerals. Perhaps a bit of bulls blood in there, too... definitely iron rich. Absolutely searing acidity is present on the palate. The finish is frothy and then that acid begins as a light line of the crest of a wave, and then the wave crashes and completely pummels your whole senses, and everything is a wash of salt water salinity and ripping mineral driven acidity. These acidic, mineral driven notes are what's held on for a minute afterwards, with just the slightest color red inflected upon them... not even a fruitiness... just a color red. A marvelous wine, and always such a pleasure.
Every year I consider buying the new vintage of La Souteronne I wonder, "is this really worth that price?" and then every year I drink it I think, "Man, this is SO good for the price! I have to buy it again next year!" This wine is a fairly singular experience, so it's always so much fun. Yeah, sure it has a lot of familiar elements of all the things it reflects, but it is always packaged up so uniquely and it's SUCH a fun wine to drink. Tonight I was just walking through the cellar pulling random bottles thinking I wanted a "high acid red." Everything I pulled I put back... and the second I put my hands on this I thought, "yup, that's it!" Mission accomplished.
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1/13/2023 - melvinyeowq wrote: 89 Points
YS's wedding after-party: Jammy, overtly fruity nose that settled down with air. Stylistically this would be an intellectual Bojo, a serious sort of Gamay closer to the Syrah end of the spectrum with some pepper notes and dark cherry fruit. Previous vintages seemed to have more structure, maybe needs more time?
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12/1/2022 - nadecesse wrote: 91 Points
Au Monarque. Du fruit rouge léger et éclatant au profil un peu sauvage se terminant dans une finale étonnamment poivrée. Du gamay qui évoque sans détour la syrah, excellent. 90-91
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11/23/2022 - North Willis Likes this wine: 91 Points
A beautiful wine. Bright red fruit, lively acidity, spice, and savory notes on the finish. Could benefit with another year or so in the cellar.
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9/23/2022 - lucagiupponi Likes this wine:
Delicious! Good balance between fruit and structure. Impressive.
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3/2/2022 - Bakerbd Likes this wine: 91 Points
Slightly funky, blackberry and bramble, underbrush, med + acidity
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1/28/2022 - AudunG wrote: 89 Points
Dark blueish red color. Rich and fruity Beaujolais like aromas, with ripe strawberries and something in direction of Côte-Rôtie, with its bacon fat mark. Full bodied and compact on the palate, but also fresh, generous and appealing. May of course be cellared, but is irresistible now.
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12/19/2021 - TXRhoneRanger wrote: 94 Points
This Gamay got it all going on. Wonderful fruit, bracing acidity, excellent body, put together very well, complete, and a crisp finish. Delightful.
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12/3/2021 - Nojomoschwa Likes this wine: 91 Points
One of my favorite Gamays, it is really hard to keep your hands off…such a purely delicious, crowd-pleasing style.
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11/19/2021 - Russell Faulkner wrote:
Vibrant, almost neon, spicy light, hay and grass. Spicy berries. Great.
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11/16/2021 - Rezy13 Likes this wine:
Similar to note on 4/1 but this bottle felt a touch lighter, needs a good chill on it to show fresher, more mushroom and white pepper on this one along with a dusty granite component, I'm a little fearful of this turning mousey; this one sourced from West Coast rather than through normal channels within the state, lets see how the others shake out.
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11/6/2021 - Nojomoschwa Likes this wine: 91 Points
This wine always delivers so much pleasure, and really overdelivers for the roughly $25 I pay for it. It is always a hit with a mixed crowd, too, as it's both geeky and delicious.
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11/2/2021 - DBdeParis Likes this wine:
Tasted on opening - was a bit closed and muted. Then ran through an aerating decanter and gave it 1 hour while enjoying pre-dinner beers. Had no idea what to expect and was very pleasantly surprised. Great balance (flavor, tannin, acidity) for a young wine, the depth of flavor hints at some interesting evolution with time. Will try to use restraint for a couple of years but that will be a challenge given how delicious this is now. Fairly priced at ~$30.
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10/8/2021 - AdamNC Likes this wine: 92 Points
Absolutely delicious. Light bodied. Would pair with anything or drink on its own.
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8/25/2021 - cct wrote: 91 Points
PnP, then drunk over a few hours
Magenta in color with a lovely and somewhat wild nose of dark berry fruit, a little leather-animale brett, stone, violet, and lavender.
Midweighted and dark fruited for Gamay. This has lovely lift and crunchy yet fresh and detailed fruit. Quite stony. Savory notes come out after a couple hours of air. This has intensity coupled with freshness, complexity with a playfulness. Terrific acid balance keeps it fresh. Quite long and delicious. One to please the intellect and palate.
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4/14/2021 - viniferatu Likes this wine:
Pepper, raspberry, blackberry, cherry, nutty lees, a little smoke and toasty spice. Gorgeous juiciness, velvety texture, lively acids, easy and gulpable, long and spicy. So good. Gamay hardly gets better.
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4/1/2021 - Rezy13 Likes this wine:
Wow this was the best wine for pairing with so many things this evening, bass with spicy peppers, farm egg, and anything else we threw at it, so aromatic and persistent with acids that compliments as fruit cushions, lots of blue and purple fruit with strong granite influence and violets and lavender galore, very clean and delicious.
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1/17/2021 - raeymaj Likes this wine:
Great with chicken biryani: spicing
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