Thursday, July 30, 2009

The funniest wine of the year

Wines needs to be fun.

When I was given this wine (thank you,”M&M”), there was a small “he he”, from my contributor.

“Mad about wine” might on first time look serious, with me trying to take pictures of wine labels in recovery position, and tasting “serious” wine and taking “serious” notes. But at the end of the day, and the more wines I taste, I tend to embrace the simplicity of wine and in all essence the drinkability of a wine.

First of all, the wine in hand is a Vin de Table "Léon" and coming from 2008 vintage. The producer is called Matthieu Dumarcher and from the relative small information I have been able to obtain, this is the second vintage he is releasing. Matthieu has studied wine from the University of Monptellier and has already worked at big wineries in France and Argentine. He is based in the northerly part of the southern Rhône valley and has 4ha of vineyards. He is in favor of the elegant side of wine and is inspired by Michelle Laurents (Domaine Gramenon) and dislikes alcoholic and bold wines.

On opening, the wine is really simple, with a lot of primary unresolved notes of just bluish grape juice. But with a bit of air, purity starts to emerge with red fruits, and notes of raspberry skin. It’s giving the wine a cool fresh breeze. The taste is very light on its toes and provides a refreshing touch. This is a really simple wine, incredible easy to understand and a pleasure to drink. One of the best things about it, is that it’s showing Rhône from a far more elegant side, which I find rather appealing.

And the label – is it just cool or what?