Hello; Slowly recuperating from a baddish influenza with accompaniment of asthma, being on corticosteroids fro the duration - I´m getting off-topic as well as maudling, amn´t I? To the point: Ch De la Negly (La Clape) "Brise Marine" (CdL) 2002 A lovely little white, made fro the Southern "Bourboulenc" variety (Danke sehr, Herr Pronay!) [c] Light gold [N]Very floral, bordering on honeysuckle [P] Continues floral, with hints of melon, mature green grapes (not muscats), as expected, no acidity at all. Still a refreshing drink with lutfisk .. (this is a joke, OK?)
Ch Rouquette sur Mer (La Clape) 2001 An assembly of several grape varietals, unfrotunately, I don´t remember which .. [c] Grenadine [N] Slight animality, roast pork ... whiff of oak, whiff of minerals [P] Rather dominant oaky tannines, gives impression of containing plenty of stuff but the tannicity is a bit on the severe side. The fruit is very nearly obscured by it. Bit of pork roast on the palate, too. I would guess that this one contains at least Syrah and Grenache, but not Mourvedre. I found most of the Langeudoc reds we tasted in August were made of mixes, containing these three in various combinations with Cinsault and Carignan, and a few of the Bordeaux varieties. This may improve with age - I can´t say. It may also be one that has been beaten to death with an oak mallet. We had it with the turkey I mentioned a few days ago - I can´t say it added anything to it - perhaps a more gamy brid, like duck, would have fared better.
Labech Merlot 2000 (Michel Laroche). Also grenadine, young, bluish. [N] I´d say this was a very typical Merlot nose, fruity, berries, and a certain raisiny character [P] On the palate, it is also a rather fruit-driven wine, very rich and satisfying, with more modest tannines, more emerging from the grapes than the good French oak .. I´d guess. May have some cellaring potential, but is a good quaff as it is.
Banyuls 1998 Chapoutier [C] Fairly typical brick red [N] Honeyed, fudgy, minerality [P] Sweet without being cloying, started a bit off color, even some weirdly chemical notes ... turned OK at second sip, good tannicity, good fruit. (Not to Mike T: This is not in the same league as the one you served us last summer, the one provide by Le Gitane - it doesn´t have anyway near that complexity and richness, while costing about the same. See what we have to put up with!)
We wish you all a continued Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Xina and self, in a grey and utterly un-christmas-like Southern Sweden