Perrin & Fils is a producer that always catches my eye. I’ve had a number of very good bottles from them and no bad ones. So when I saw this bottle at Costco from an appellation I’m not familiar with and a couple of nice scores (91 WS and 90 RP), I couldn’t resist.
Producer: Perrin & Fils
Grapes: Back label says 65% Syrah, 35% Grenache – but I read in two places that the AC rules for this appellation require a minimum of 50% Grenache. So I’m assuming they got it backward on the label and it’s 65% Grenache.
Appellation: Vinsobres (AOC, France) (map). Formerly classified as Côtes du Rhône Villages (1957), then Côtes du Rhône Villages Vinsobres (1967), this appellation was granted its own AOC (just Vinsobres) in 2005.
Vineyards: From vineyards at Domaine de la Bicarelle and the Julian estate. They describe the soils as “Stony and sandy marl on the slopes, with quartenary stony alluviums on the terraces.”
Winemaking/aging: Label says 35% is aged in French oak, but no indication for how long or whether the barrels are new or not.
Alcohol: 14%
Price: $12-15
My tasting notes: Dusty red fruit, pencil shavings and dried herbs on the nose. Feels weighty in the mouth, with flavors of dried cherries, plums, figs and just a hint of black olive. Persistent minerality on the finish. (Drinks well on day two – a little fruitier and fleshier.)
Overall assessment: A nice wine. Good balance of restrained fruit and minerality/earth, especially after a few hours open and the next day. A good way to explore lesser-known Rhone appellations. B-
Free association: In the my last post, I used Iron Man to convey the iron notes in the wine. I have comics on the brain, so I’m using The Thing to convey the earthy minerality of this wine.
More info:
Wondering how to pronounce the name of this wine?
Other blogger reviews: Gang of Pour, Viva la Wino and Passport Foodie
Cool site! I like how geeky it is, becuase I’m a total nerd too. Thanks for linking to me. Vinsobres is really a Cotes du Rhone Villages…or at least it was prior to 2005ish…so I don’t know if it’s really “lesser known.” I would lump this in the CDR category. Anyways, looks like I liked it quite a bit more than you. Too bad that I don’t have any more bottles to try again.
Thanks for the comment. Fair point on the “lesser-known” phrasing. Though you “scored” it higher than me, I did like this wine pretty well. I realize I haven’t provided any real explanation of my scoring scale (A – F) on the blog yet, which I need to fix soon. I’m probably procrastinating on that because I go back and forth in my own head sometimes. I don’t think of my system as a quality score as much as an enjoyment score (more on this soon, I hope). For perspective, on the new-and-improved corkd.com, where I have to use a 100-pt scale, I gave this wine an 88.
Thanks again!
Grading is a weird thing since it’s so subjective and personal. For me, the whole A-F is a blend of price and how good the wine was. IE it might get a C if it’s great but expensive, or an A if it’s cheap and a little above average. It’s really for my own use so that I can mentally benchmark things for myself… Points are lame because they are too specific in my opinion.