Thick and rich savoury dark berries and just a slight touch of cedar/vanilla. Pretty acidic, but also pushy tannins. Nice and drinkable.
Deep scarlet purple. The nose is very up front, with cherry vanila and sweet spices, cassis boiled lollies. You know what it reminds me of? Rowntrees fruit pastilles. There is also a very light oily yeast note. A little oak in the mouth (I was worried after the nose). Great toasted savoury black currant and cassis with fine tanins and confident acids. Medium bodied and pleasant to begin, with a long finish dominated by the tanin and acid. It is just slightly too perfumed (floral) for my taste. Very good value.
Jean-Marc Lafage and his importer are rendering a huge service to consumers with several white cuvees that represent outstanding values. Among his reds, Lafage has scored a mind-boggling value with his Syrah-based (10% each Grenache and Cabernet) 2005 Cote Sud. Intense aromas of plum paste, cherry, iodine and herbs lead into a richly-fruited, deeply mineral, dynamic palate with layering and interplay of black chocolate, lavender, licorice, cherry preserves, singed meat, salts and iodine. A wine this rich and complex and with a finish this long takes on an aura of unreality when one sees the price! Even alongside “intro-level” wines as amazing as Lafage’s, those of his more expensive cuvees that I had occasion to taste (both from high-altitude vines in the south of Roussillon) do not have to fear comparison, and should be capable of improving for several years.
