After recently enjoying a rosé, the Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare 2007, and asking myself why I don’t drink pink more often, I picked up another — this time from France.
Producer: Chateau Routas
Grapes: 40% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 30% Cinsault
Appellation: Coteaux Varois en Provence (AOC, France).
Vinification/Aging: [from the producer’s website] The grapes are cooled and kept on their skins for 12 to 24 hours immediately following harvest, then gently pressed. All the Syrah and half of the Grenache go straight to neutral oak barrels after being pressed where they go through their primary and malolactic fermentation. The remaining Grenache and Cinsault are fermented in stainless steel tanks and blocked from malolactic fermentation. The two different lots are aged separately for five months and blended prior bottling.
Alcohol: 13%
Price: I paid $11 at Spec’s in Austin.
My tasting notes: Very nice salmon/apricot color. On the nose, I’m struck first by soapy aromas, like a heavily-scented hand soap — Wild SugarBerry Blossom, or something like that. There’s a bit of crayon box, too. And slightly oxidized aroma like sherry. Maybe I have an off bottle. Mrs. VINEgeek adds that there is a “creek water” element to it. In the mouth, it comes across somewhat sugary on the initial attack, like sugar-coated strawberries and raspberries, followed by bit of that oxidation I smelled (though not so much as to make it unpalatable). It has good acid and finishes dry.
Overall assessment/score: I hesitate to give this a score since there’s a chance I got an off bottle. Even without the possible oxidation, I think it was a bit out of balance. For my palate, this is not nearly as nice as the Vin Gris de Cigare. Here are some other people’s thoughts. Also, Wine Spectator gave it an 87.
Free association:
