"Back to the old country - France - for yet another wine new to me, Domaine de Mourchon's Grande Reserve 2006 from Cote du Rhone-Villages Seguret. Owned since 1998 by a British family, the MacKinlays, who kindly sent me a bottle to taste. Familiar grapes, 65% Grenache and 35% Syrah, old vines, low yield, 40% in oak blended with 60% in concrete vats. A most attractive brochure which, as is my wont, I read avidly. Set in a secluded valley, the 'steep slopes' looked rather on the flat side to me but there was a rather sensuous hint of a downward slope on the near horizon. Still, I musn't carp. I liked the wine despite its robust alcoholic content (15%) which gave it a hot finish. Colour appropriately deep with youthful purple core and rich legs. Nose and flavour full of fruit, meaty and spicy. I didn't open it 'several hours' before serving - surely right - but, the next best thing, decanted it (not for sediment's sake - I didn't notice any) into my open jug. It is worth leaving to age and mature. Well priced for its quality." Michael Broadbent (Decanter, November 2009)
Justin Girardin's Premier Cru Beauregard: 2017 v 2018 It's been a while... I realise I haven't posted in over two years so, to make amends, here's a note about two wines for the summer season (actually, why not all year round?). A (very) mini-vertical from rising star, Justin Girardin. First, a word about the price: £30 for the 2018 and only sixty pence short of that for the 2017. Thirty pounds? That's a lot of money for a bottle, isn't it? No, this is Burgundy where, ordinarily, that sort of cash barely gets a bottle of Bourgogne Rouge, the lowliest appellation other than the somewhat confused and confusing Passetoutgrains and Coteaux Bourguignon (traditionally, anyway). So, a couple of bargains then? All depends on the wine. First, as custom dictates, the 2018: slightly fuller in colour than its older sibling. More extracted or slightly oxidised? It smells like it should so I'm going with the former. Beauregard is usually one of the softer Santenays and t...
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