Friday 26 April 2013

Wonder Wine

It has been a while, I can't quite get into a routine of regularly posting but I am going to make more of an effort form know on. However, I did have to wax lyrical about a wine I have drunk a fair amount of recently. Surprisingly it comes from my local Spar and it always does the job. 

The wine is a Vinsobres 2007 by Celliers des Dauphins. Vinsobres is a little known and fairly young appelation in the Southern Rhone. It has a relative high altitude so the wines can have a touch more structure and elegance than some of the lower appelations. The wines must be 50% grenache and at least 25% Mourvedre or Syrah.

The Celliers des Dauphins is one of the leading co-operatives in the region and I believe this wine is a good example of their quality.

The wine itself shows it age on the nose with some earthy notes, brambly fruit and a good slap of oakiness. The alcohol is fairly obvious but this is to be expected as it is 14.5%.

It is a dry red with lots of sweet dark berry flavours, fresh acidity and a fine tannic structure. It shows stewed plums, damsons some white pepper spice and it is smooth and moreish. It mouth-filling and intense and has good length. again the alcohol is a little prominent, it is full but by no means heavy.

The best thing about this wine is it is only £5.59. There are not many wines that give as much flavour intensity for so little. The slightly higher altitude is obvious as it is not as big and bruising as some Southern Rhone reds can be. I would happily drink this every night but there is just too much good wine out there that I  would miss!