We tasted four wines and were pleasantly surprised with our ‘best buy’. The wines tasted were:
Les Coteaux Schisteux 2000Tastings in detail
Domaine la Condamine L'Eveque, 2000 Vin de Pay des Cotes de Thongue had a golden clear colour with a great honey and apricot nose and a hint of oakiness. It was powerful to taste, somewhat oily in texture with muted apricots, peaches, pears and slightly fizzy. Acidity was unusually low. The taste lasted in the month for a reasonable time. Alcohol level at 12%
Domaine Les Ferrandes, 2000 Vin de Pays D’Oc was a pale yellow in colour and the nose was pleasant with a bright honey smell and plenty of fruit. It was light on the nose. This tasted like a nicely balanced wine with fruit and acid in good harmony. It was sweet on the surface with the acidity coming in underneath. A good taste of apricots. A pleasant drink, with 13% alcohol and good length. Buy and enjoy.
Domaine de Gourgazaud, 2002 Vins de Pays D’Oc Minervois was clear pale lemon-lime in colour, fresh to look at and slightly viscous in the glass. It smelled like a classic Viognier – honey, aromatic and wild flowers and a comforting mustiness – ‘a smell to lie in’ as one taster remarked. The taste was strong in acidity, fresh, apples, slightly lemony, unripe apricots. The acidity stays in the mouth for a while but the fruits quickly die (13%).
Les Coteaux Schisteux, 2000 Vins de Pays de la Principalite d’Orange at 14% the highest in alcohol of our four wines. A shimmery, gold colour with a smell of ozone and fresh sea air, a the delicate perfume of orange blossom. Slightly oily to taste and a little bitterness. A hint of fruit and little acidity. Generally thin and lacking in balance.
Prices for these wines range from £3.99 for the Domaine Les Ferrandes at Morrison Supermarkets to £7.73 for the Domaine de Gourgazaud at Wrightson & Co.
The other two wines are just under the seven pound mark. All in all we go for Domaine Les Ferrandes as our best buy. Well done Morrisons.
For previous 'Featured Wines', please click here
With the Viogniers from the Languedoc/Southern Rhone piling up in the cellar we decided it was time to pay a second visit to this area of increasing Viognier production. On our last visit we concluded that finding a distinct quality Viognier was a real gamble …… gems could be found in the most unexpected corners. This months tasting underlines that discovery.