Here you have an excellent example for the fine wines that could reveal the vintage 2008 in the Rhone Valley.

The wine is dark coloured with purple sparks. A little shy, the first nose offers aromas of blackcurrant, laurel and black pepper – a lot of pepper. After short breathing, the bouquet opens on wild strawberries, freshly cut herbs and a hint of eucalyptus.

The wine is soft and smooth on the palate, with few but serious tannins. A straight and fresh acidity adds some firmness and gives a lot of length to the final.

According to Robert Parker, this wine offers beautiful notes of kirsch liqueur, liquorice, spice box, roasted Provencal herbs, and a hint of lavender in its explosive aromatics. The wine possesses terrific purity and density as well as the succulence, fleshiness, charm, and sensuality of a beautiful dry red wine from Provence. Consume it over the next 3-4 years. (…) This vineyard, located near the old Roman village of Vaison-La-Romaine, may have produced as good a vintage in 2008 as it did in 2007." (06/09)

“Some of my best Syrah grapes ripen in Vaison la Romaine”, says Yves Gras. In the Clos Chante Duc, some 350 meters above sea level, he works the vineyards of Walter and Patricia Wells, a famous restaurant critic and food journalist who inter alia writes for the Washington Post and the NY Times, since 2007.

Some old Grenache, a little Mourvèdre and about a third of Syrah are the foundations of this fine and elegant Côtes du Rhône. After fermenting in modern concrete tanks, the wine ages in oak for 12 to 18 months.