Score: 91/100
This red wine from the North-end of the Languedoc wine region, or the Pic Saint Loup appellation to be precise, is an organic wine, blend of Syrah and Grenache.
The Bois de Tourtourel cuvée is a single vineyard wine, part of the ‘Les Secrets de Lascaux series (3 different single vineyard wines). This vineyard’s soil is very characteristic, with split fragments of limestone rock spread over an iron-rich silt soil.
The wine was aged for 12-14 months in French oak barrels, before a further 6-month maturation in stainless steel tank.
Tasting Notes
This Languedoc red comes in a very dark and intense red color indeed, nearly black to the core, an evolved red to the rim with touches of orange hues, but still looking vibrant for an 8-year-old wine.
The nose is both powerful and deep. It smells and feel warming, filled with ripe strawberry jam and dark blackberry, mixed with a wealth of spicy black pepper and chili. Dark caramel and delicate vanilla sweeten the aromatic profile a notch, while varied sweet spices make it smell complex.
A background of animal character, blended with a burnt tire one, give this Pic Saint Loup’s nose a strange personality. You either find it add depth and another interesting layer, or you get the sensation it weighs things up and brings shade over what otherwise seems like a vibrant and lively wine. The palate will tell, I guess…
Put the wine in your mouth, and you find out that the animal character is actually discrete, and lets the fruity power of the wine be expressed rather freely on the palate. The wine probably needs further decanting time than what I allowed, to have more ‘opening up’ time and enable the nose to fully develop.
The palate is round and full-bodied, yet inhabited by a vibrant acidity that provides freshness to punchy ripe red berry and berry jam flavors. Here as well, a wealth of sweet spices completes the overall fruity profile with the sensation of sweetness and pleasantly chili-like complexity.
Overall
A full, round, warming and rather deep of a red Languedoc wine, that provides satisfaction through its fruity and sweetly spicy dominant flavors. Smooth tannins and oily texture make for a wine with character delivering the comforting impression of being filled with the Southern France’s sunshine.
Drink now or with 3 years.
Enjoy 🙂
Please let me know your thoughts