2009
Costieres De Nimes
Red Rhone Style Wine
95% Syrah, 5% Mourvedre
91
Price: $17.99 at Total Wine
Rating: 8.45/10 for wines between $15-25
Appearance: Purple tinted garnet
Legs: takes longer to set which indicated a fuller wine - I was surprised by this, given it's a Syrah
Smell: one word. Intense. Smoke and intense spice with notes of cassis (black licorice) and plum
Taste: Intense introduction of plum and dark raspberry with sight hints of strawberry and cherry. Followed by earthy, leather, dirt and a hint of toast ending with slight nutty/chocolate. Subtle tannins that linger into a medium finish with a dry mouth feel.
Mouth: Intense, fully bodied coating the mouth.
I was surprised by this wine. For several reasons. First, given the intense spicey smell, I was shocked by the fruit forward introduction. It's startling at first, but after several sips, it grew on me more and more. Second, considering this is predominantly a Syrah, I was taken back by how intense the wine is. In my experience, Syrah's are usually full of bright berry flavors that have a sharp mouth feel and medium body. This wine could, and does, hold up to the bigger, bolder Cabs that I enjoy.
On a different note, I am very excited for a wine party we are planning. We attended a wine tasting at a local shop a little while ago, and the idea was proposed to have a wine tasting class at our house. The boyfriend is busy squirreling away ideas, but since most of our friends are in the beginning level of wine tasting he is planning on doing an introduction to wine class. 3 reds and 3 whites - the traditional types, with cups of ransom spices/flavors......very excited.
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