Perrin et Fils and Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf du Pape 2009 releases
I was delighted to be invited to the pre-release tasting of the wines of Perrin et FIls and Château de Beaucastel 2009. It took place last week in the rather grand setting of the Grocer’s Hall in central London.
On show were a wide range of wines from Perrin along with the new vintages of the Beaucastel wines, both red and white and a few older vintages for comparison. So, temping stuff then…
It was my Son’s Birthday today and to celebrate, I opened a bottle of Château La Tour Carnet 2000. Decanted about 90 minutes before drinking, the wine wasn’t showing a great deal of development. It was a deep ruby colour with only a very small garnet rim. After a bit of swirling, it opened up some surprisingly primary aromas of blackcurrant, bramble and Christmas spice. The palate exuded black fruit, lovely balanced vanilla and cinnamon spice and very well balanced, fine tannins.
Where does the rosé market go next? It’s undoubtedly a growth category, but one rosé is often very similar to another. And will the consumer ever pay more than £6 for a bottle? Well, this estate in Provence is challenging the general perception of rosé wine and trying to make the category a fine wine icon. But can they justify prices that would make the Bordelais blush (pun intended…)?
Domaine Rabiega is situated in the heart Provence on the outskirts of town of Dragugnan. Previously owned by Sweden’s Vin and Spirit, it is now in private hands and has ambitious plans to make serious red wines, using both grapes not widely planted in the local area such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.
I had the pleasure of attending the pre-release tasting of the new vintages of Ridge Vineyards. Ridge certainly make some of my favourite wines, from the “modest” Zinfandel blends through to the truly world class Monte Bello.
