Impatient to get stuck into the new arrivals from South-West France, I notice that Montauriol 's "Mons Aureolus" is 2005, not 2004 as expected. Obviously this needs to be investigated. The wine is a fruit bomb, literally exploding in the mouth with the highly perfumed Négrette taking centre stage as expected. Nicely oaked too. The wine really needs a little time - it was much more mellow the following day.# 28/02/08 After the Montauriol was polished off, another cork was pulled, this time from a bottle of Lamartine 's "Cuvée Particulière", a mere toddler from the 2004 vintage.As the bottle progressed it grew up though going from slightly awkward to deep and interesting. It didn't last long enough to get really profound though. Next time, perhaps (or just leave it to the Expression). 01/03/08 First tasting since its arrival of Lacassagne 's 2004 Madiran - a little more reserved than earlier tastings but with a bit of breathing the fruit starts to shin...
Musings on wine and occasional other subjects from The Big Red Wine Company's James Bercovici