With a dinner of a hastily thown-together pseudo-Jambalaya, I went to the cellar for a CdR as a reasonable match. I came up with a bottle of the '01 Dom. de la Grand Bois Cairanne 'Cuvée Maximilien' which proved to be hideously corked, so back down for a backup bottle, the '01 Clos du Caillou, which thankfully proved to be devoid of taint:
nose: reticent at first (too cold), showing a brambly dark fruit and minerals
palate: medium body, dark cherry fruit, pencil lead, herbs, spices, silky tannins, good acidity
comments: This is a North Berkeley Import, but unlike so many of their wines, it wasn't oaky in the least. In fact, it could have passed for a good quality CdP, as concentrated and ageworthy as it was. From the taste, I guessed that it had quite a bit of Mourvedre in the mix, but Jancis says it's 85% Grenache, so forget that. Still, I'm glad that I have more of this in the cellar and I don't plan on opening them up for a while longer.
Another afterthought: this is one of my first glimpses into what '01 is like in the S. Rhone. On the basis of this bottle, I think that it's a vintage to be excited about: richly fruity, with good structure and excellent balance.
Mark Lipton