Panel Tasting - Red Wines of the Languedoc.

20 August 2005.

The theme, 'Red Wines of the Languedoc', seems straightforward enough. The brief was to get three wines below £6 and three over £10. Ideally we were also looking for a variety in terms of suppliers. There were no specific instructions around vintages or status, as long as it came from the larger Languedoc area.

The tasting was done completely blind, with all wines decanted into generic, marked bottles and bagged up by a different person to the decanter. This ensured none of the panel knew which was which.

The tasters are from different walks of life, none of them wine professionals, but with a fairly wide ranging experience in wine tasting. Although tasting notes were written by individuals, we did have some interesting discussions about the wines in question. The goal was to find the best wine against value for money, but also taking into account the context in which a wine might be drunk. There were quite a number of surprises, notably around the most popular and most expensive wines.

Talking of wines, here they are in order of merit:

Cuvee Prestige

Vin de Pays de l'Herault

N/V Tesco - £3.49

Described on the back label as a smooth, fruity red wine with plum fruit character.

This is a blend of Merlot, Grenache and Cinsault. The colour is getting closer to rose than red wine, as does the nose. Quite spicy, strawberry and white pepper. Some of us detected a hint of grated parmesan cheese.

The palate felt a bit sweet, like crème de cassis, caramel and marzipan. Personally I found the wine a little one dimensional and it had no great length to speak of, which meant I scored it down. Still it managed to charm us all as an easy drinking out in the garden wine. Perfect for summer. And the price!

4 Stars (22/30)

Cinchona

Robert Eden

Minervois 2000

Oddbins - £7.49

Made from 60% Carignan (carbonic maceration - using co2) and 40% Syrah (vinified traditionally), this is a bit more serious stuff. It had some age to it which was fairly obvious from the colour, soft red with a large pink rim. On there were spicy, oaky characters. Tobacco and coconut, but also a bit of dampness, a forest in autumn. I found some banana in there as well as a vegetal, parsnip like character.

The palate was full bodied, spicy with liquorice and cloves, black fruit, cherries and lovely ripe integrated tannins. This is really a food wine, a real winter warmer.

Overall this wine actually managed a marginally higher score than the Cuvee Prestige, but the latter won purely on value for money. My personal favourite.

This wine also supports the Rainforest Foundation, with 50p of each bottle going to the cause.

4 Stars (24/30)

Cuvee des Galets

Vignerons d'Estezargues

Vin de Pay du Gard 2003

Stone Vine and Sun - £4.95

Also see Favourite Grapes. Fresh light raspberry nose, with some liquorice and vanilla character coming through. The palate is juicy raspberry, some of us got redcurrant and an undertone of mint and well balanced tannins. The great length on a wine of this price makes it stand out for me. It manages quite a bit more complexity than the Cuvee Prestige, but also has a nice lightness of touch, which makes it very versatile. Unfiltered, very well balanced and full of character.

4 Stars (21/30)

Old Vine Grenache

Bertie Selection

Robert Eden (Comte Cathare)

Minervois La Liviniere 2003

Oddbins - £18.99

This was the most expensive wine in the tasting, which unfortunately doesn't correspond with its overall rating. Don't get me wrong, this is a good wine. Well made and fairly serious, but at this price we wanted a 'wow-factor'.

A dark purple wine, almost opaque. Sweet nose, lots of caramel, some blackberry and cherry. Soft on the palate, fairly sweet, blackcurrant, raisins and liquorice/vanilla. It also displayed some gamey character. Tannins were well integrated and balanced and the length was good.

Incidentally this wine is made at the same estate as Cinchona (see above) The winemaker, Benjamin Darnault, uses biodynamic principles in the vineyard and the grapes come from eighty year old Syrah vines. As an overall score it did not too badly, but when taking into account the price, it is slightly disappointing.

3 Stars (20/30)

Domaine de la Rectorie

Coume Pascole

Collioure 2002

Stone Vine and Sun - £14.25

Another expensive one that disappointed. A nice bright ruby red colour. The nose is very sulphuric, dusty. It did have some spicy liquorice notes on the palate, with fairly high acidity. Fruit was almost entirely lacking and the tannins were very drying. One of us described it as old tea. Generally an unpopular wine, we did consider whether it is potentially faulty as it's had great reviews before.

According to the SVS website Natasha Hughes, from Decanter Magazine, wrote in January 2005: '95/100 Shot through with the slatey minerality of Collioure's soils. It's dense and layered with lots of spicy dark fruit and chewy, but balanced tannins.' 2006-2010)

We certainly didn't recognise this in this bottle.

2 Stars (11/30)

Les Catalognes

Domaine Clavel

Coteaux du Languedoc 2003

Oddbins - £6.49

This was the very first wine we tasted and it did not go down very well. Certain tasting notes are better not reproduced here for fear of offending. In general it felt overoaked and the taste was described as raspberry over fire. Musty barrels was another one. It had chemical undertones and lacked fruit. Unpleasant.

1 Star (6/30)