AOC Minervois degustation with Pierre Cros @ Domaine Cros in Badens. #wine pic.twitter.com/rQdTkiDviu
— Fran Marcellin (@frances_cook) May 29, 2014 — Lire la suite.

Without any doubt, the Roussillon area in southern France produces some excellent red and white wines. Despite this, it always remained a synonym for sweet fortified wines to me, some of them with astonishing ageing techniques. Amongst those, the “Solera” system, originally from Spain, certainly is one of the most surprising ways to age wine. To create a Solera, you fist have set up a “Criadera”, by stacking several ranges of barrels. The first range, close to the ground, is called Solera, (…) — Lire la suite.

#tourdefrance loving how #yorkshire is getting ready for the grand depart next weekend..Even the sheep..Madness! :-)) pic.twitter.com/IbTJ9UoeDN
— nikki crowley (@nikkicrowley1) June 29, 2014 — Lire la suite.

Santa Duc Gigondas “Aux Lieux-Dits” 2011
A classic Gigondas with its rich, spice-laced aromas and flavors and medium to full-bodied, structured palate feel, the 2011 Gigondas Aux Lieux-Dits is a foudre aged blend of 75% Grenache, 15% Syrah and the rest Mourvedre and Cinsault. Mouth filling, with ripe tannin and a solid length on the finish, drink bottles over the coming 7-8 years. Jeb Dunnuck December 2013, The Wine Advocate
Santa Duc Gigondas “Prestige des Hautes Garrigues” 2011
[...] (…) — Lire la suite.

I admit being a real fan of wines from south-western France since many years. It all started with the discovery of some ENORMEOUS Malbec from Cahors, some COSMIC wines from Jurançon and some fine wines from Madiran, full of character. All of them were complex, juicy and atypical, showing astonishing ageing capacity, as well as wonderful “drinkability” in their youth. Just great wines. Since then, I often thought that wines and tastes might be divided into “France” and “South-West”.
A (…) — Lire la suite.

Being rather ahead since the beginning of the year, cooler nights seem to have slowed down the growing of the vines since two weeks. In southern France we are somehow back to a “normal” vintage now. Now that flowering has started, we cross fingers for good weather conditions, without any excess. For the moment forecast looks rather good… — Lire la suite.

Vinum December 2013 : 45 wines tasted, 40 wines selected, only 1 wine with 18 points, 6 wines with 17 points…
Château du Cèdre 2010 - drink from 2016 till 2024 (16/20)
Still a little reserved, but with great style, fine-grained tannins and without dominance of alcohol our oak. A classy wine that has good capacity to age, even if its harmony allows appreciating it already now, after decanting.
Cèdre Heritage 2011 – drink 2013 or 2014 (16/20)
Shows spiciness, zest and drinkability: An (…) — Lire la suite.