This is from my favorite Rhone producer, Janasse, which Francie and I visited on our stay in Provence. We had a great tasting with the owners and bought a bottle of 2000 Janasse CDP that I believe we still have in the Eurocave. This bottle was $18.50 from CH Wine Co., where I'm increasingly impressed with the selection and pricing that's below many in the Triangle NC area.
The 2007 vintage in southern Rhone has generated huge praise from Parker and others as perhaps the best vintage in decades. The Cotes du Rhone are supposedly operating at perhaps 3-5 points above their norms, to use the 0-100 scale. Parker rates lots of them in the 90-93 point range whereas normally few reach 90--certainly my experience with them is they're too rustic and simple on the palate even when good on the nose. Even relatively inexpensive CDP's seem to me a lot better than most CDR's.
Initial impression: the color is a dark purple like Welch's grape juice and a nose of black cherry and grapey, almost popsicle-like with violet and blackberry overtones. Initial palate: fairly acidic though soft tannins and the fruit is OK but not terribly impressive. It needs some time to oxygenate. Five minutes later the fruit is more in balance with the acid, giving it a very long and warm-hot finish. There's some light herbal overtone, maybe some lavender rather violet.
At 15 minutes, used the Vinturi to oxygenate further. The nose now is full of vanilla custard and what i'm more sure is lavender. In this sense it's tasting more like an Australian GSM with that really big jammy character that I love. Finish is really long, carried by the warm finish with acid and fruit in decent balance, but i'd say this one will be better in a year and will drink well for 5-6 years (till around 2016).
Parker below seems to be wrong on the varietal blend as the bottle itself says it's 40% grenache, 30% syrah and mourvedre, which accords with the GSM australian blends. i think what he calls camphor/truffles/truffles i may be smelling as herbs and lavender.
24 hours later after preservation with gas: great raspberry popsicle nose now with woodsy spicey overtones. the wine remains acidic on palate at least for the first few minutes. smoother with more air and smoother still on the palate after several trips through the Vinturi.
Francie brought out a cheese board and the goat cheese really goes nicely with this, aiding the finish of cheese and fruit together while taming a bit the hotness. the dominance of grenache in the blend is important for making it less spicy/peppery/herbaceous than would be the case with more syrah and mourvedre, i think. This one is about on par with the $20-22 GSM's from australia that I like and that get 90-92 points from Parker and the Wine Spectator so it's a good one to buy @ under $20.
Parker 91-93 points:
The blockbuster 2007 Cotes du Rhone-Villages Terre d’Argile, which comes from red clay soils, is a blend of 75% Grenache and 25% Mourvedre. A deep ruby/purple color is accompanied by aromas of black raspberries, blueberries, freshly grilled mushrooms, truffles, camphor, and spice. Full-bodied, deep, silky, and layered, it is an incredible example of a Cotes du Rhone-Villages.
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