Decanterberry Tales - A Willamette Valley Wine Blog - ventoux tag

Chateau Pesquie, Terrasses (Ventoux), 2006

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:15:08 GMT

Robert Parker (or at least his Wine Advocate) loves this wine. They gave this vintage a 90; and the one before that, they gave a 92. So it's got to be great, right? Not terrible, but we didn't find it to be great, exactly. Here's what we found ...

The nose was vanilla, stems, red cherry, saw dust, and rose. There was also that barnyard smell -- hay and manure -- but it was very subtle. The taste was a combo of red cherry and raspberry -- not exactly sweet, or sour. The finish starts with the cherry and raspberry, flashes with pepper, and then dissolves into raspberry.

Most striking is how fruity this wine is -- I won't have guessed from the taste that this was an old world wine. Though the aromas were very interesting, the taste was fairly simple (fruit). In some ways it reminded me of some 2005 Oregon Pinots we've had recently -- a bit sweet at the start, and sort of overly acidic (perhaps this 06 was just a tad young?). It was, of course, more peppery than a Pinot, yet the body was similar: a light to medium body. Denise found it: "not that interesting".

Cost:

Rating: 7.0

(70% Grenache, 30% Syrah)

Delas Freres, Cotes du Ventoux, 2006

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:25:30 GMT

This wine represents our friends Elizabeth's and Kenny's attempt at that good and cheap dinner wine quest. They brought this over the same night we drank that 1983 Grand Cru Pauillac, and a 2005 Crozes Hermitage. Honestly, I would drink this over that 2005 Hermitage any day.

Mont Ventoux is a notable mountain in France rising to 6300ft, and it marks the gate between Rhone and Provence. This wine is grown just south of this mountain. So it's basically Provence, but it's a lot like a Cotes du Rhone too.

This wine smells like raisin, pepper, and stems (a bitter smell). The taste is plum, but not at all sweet. There's raisin in the taste too. The body is medium (much more so than that Hermitage). The mouthfeel is just slightly gritty in the texture, but not in a way that bothered me. The finish is dry. Those stems return in the finish (but not in an overly bitter way). There's pepper and then plum and raspberry (just a hint of a sourness).

Overall, this is a darn good wine for the price (just short of $10). Nice work E and K!

Cost:

Rating: 6.5

(Grenache: 80%, Syrah 20%)