These are the full tasting notes from each of the 55 people who took part in our ‘Palate Calibration Exercise’ 2017. For analysis of these notes and a full explanation of the PCE please see the PCE 2017 Results.
3/20
Andy Leslie, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Poor. Price paid: £10.99. Read Tasting Notes
Tasting note: Very unappealing nose on opening, super-reductive – initial impression of red-fruit carbonic maceration character. After vigorous shaking and multiple decants it had fizzed-off a load of CO2 and what was left was very dumb & flat. A whiff of dark fruits but no lift or interest. Really very dull. Palate remained reductive & carbonic throughout. Really coarse and drying tannins. Simple sour red fruit & a jolt of acidity. The overall impression in the mouth if a wine completely bereft of balance and harmony – all the components are jarring and clashing. Poor wine. Terribly disappointing. I was one of the advocates for this wine for the PCE, having good memories of it from 10+ years ago so I really wasn’t expecting the mess that emerged. In particular the CO2-heavy wine making was a big (unpleasant) surprise. I was really expecting and hoping for a good honest chewy hearty rustic Rhone red. Didn’t really improve with food: tannins softened a little but still pretty nasty.
7/20
Martin Brown, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Poor. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Strong blackberry/bramble, white pepper, herb/green note. Hint of strawberry. Seems short on fruit, chewy tannins, short finish. Weird rubber(?) note. Based on appearance and nose I was expecting more on tasting the wine. A bit disappointed on the whole – especially the lack of fruit and weird rubber note. No difference tasted with cheddar cheese.
8/20
Peter Webb, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Poor. Price paid: £10.99. Read Tasting Notes
Not getting much – a little savoury maybe. Soft mouth feel, no grip. Metallic finish. Not pleasant. Not a wine I would want to drink – rest of bottle will be stew bound. Maybe slightly more amenable with food.
9/20
Paul Anderson, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Poor. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Blackcurrant fruit and plums. Hint of cocoa and green pepper. Initial flavours of ripe black and red currants. Mid-palate slightly hollow but with some spice and black fruit. Finish is short with some dry tannins. Overall, the wine was okay but lacking a bit of complexity and connection between the start and finish. Tastes as if there’s been some sort of manual manipulation with the acidity. No improvement with food.
10/20
Name withheld (Male), UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
As a blend, I found it tricky to discern specifics, however I got some black fruits – blackberry? and cherry aromas with a hint of dried herbs and pepper. It’s got earthy tones I can’t place specifically. The alcohol hits and lingers, overpowering my palate. I struggled to isolate flavours other than some non-specific black fruits plus cherry and a hint of raspberry. Perhaps my palate isn’t sophisticated enough? It’s a standard Rhône blend at its price point. I love a decent Rhône but this wine didn’t win me over. Did it need more ageing to develop? Was the alcohol too dominant on the palate, and the aromas were subtle and for my nose, tricky to discern. Then again I am an not an expert. This is one of those wines that i would only have a glass or two, but no more at a sitting. The flavours were diminished and the alcoholic content dominated when eating with a steak and fried potatoes which should stand up to this kind of wine. I was able to smell and taste more – albeit discernibly difficult to work out – before food. With food, the alcohol was too much, the flavours muddled. Perhaps it’s me?
Rob Lockwood, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Burnt rubber, black pepper, purple fruit, warming raspberry jam. Faintly chlorinous? After decant – more nose: almost a smokiness; fruit more subdued but tarter. Now coal, possibly cinnamon (or something heading towards cola cubes). More on the nose than the palate: fascinating non-fruit stuff. Poured straight from just-opened bottle. There’s tannin there, and framing acid, and not much more. Perhaps a touch warm at 17.5C? Needs air – too tannic for me at this stage. Splashed into pyrex jug, back into bottle, twice. More to palate now, but tannin still obtrusive – chewy. Acid seems to have reduced though – seems smoother, and to have put on more weight. It’s certainly not wispy. With gulps of air, pepper & slight char. Reasonable length, with something herby – thyme? Sour, bitter, like licquorice sticks. Despite not being my taste, sweet is balanced with savoury and alcohol heat (despite the 14%) is invisible. Would be a good seasoning for food: in fact it’s got a food-y feeling to it on its own. A lot to respect; for me, not much to love. Night three: some blackcurrant. Stewed. Fruit/teabags on finish. much more pleasing tonight: not chewy, much smoother, more body/fruit than at start. Solid wine, not to my taste, improved considerably with a few hours / days ageing but wouldn’t buy.
11/20
Tom Henderson, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £8.99. Read Tasting Notes
Purple violets withe a little farmyard funk and meatiness, a bit of alcohol coming through as well. Dark fruits with a slightly savoury character with a bit of toastiness. Well poised acidity and smooth tannins. Generally a pretty good wine especially if you can get it on offer and below a tenner. A pretty safe no frills daily drinker. Excellent with some chorizo, took on the paprika element wry well surprisingly!
Andrew Stevenson, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
I was expecting lots of forward sweet black fruit, but there’s none of that. Initially it felt a little muted on the nose, then it just seems rather lean and leafy. What fruit there is feels a bit confected, floral & sweet-shoppy. Being positive, it has great restraint. Good black fruit on the attack with something of a leathery, velvet mouthfeel. Very hefty tannins that suck the moisture out of your cheeks. After about 20 minutes open (but not decanted) and in the glass, some of that aggression has faded. Black fruits, with a sort of blueberry freshness and acidity in the mouth. There’s an almost concerning amount of acidity in here, I think. Finishes with that leanness that was on the nose. Could there have been a tiny bit of TCA in this? There’s a greenness and a bit of a feel of it being scalped. But no. It’s one of those cases where greenness is just greenness. There’s none of the meaty, fleshiness I’d expect in CdR. I wouldn’t say my opinion changed with food, but a large slab of Dexter rump steak with peas and artichokes braised together in veal stock really did it a world of good, bringing the fruit to the fore and taming both the acidity and the tannins, as the meat’s fat lined the mouth. But not removing/masking them entirely, especially the acidity.
Name withheld (Female), UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £10.99. Read Tasting Notes
Fruity, blackcurrant, sharp (very small amount of citrus/Apple – lemon possibly). Blackcurrant, sharp, slightly tannic, astringent. Very fruity, but also quite drying with a slightly bitter aftertaste. Wine became less tannic and gained a more overall fruity flavour with food, lost some of the citrus favours.
Name withheld (Female), UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £20.00. Read Tasting Notes
Purchased in a wine bar. Rich. Oaky taste, but prefer white wine.
12/20
Eddie Davies, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Hint of blackberry/currants. Smooth and palatable. Good quality wine at this price. Improved with food, but then I always think the flavour changes with most wines according to what you are eating. Duck in this instance.
Ian Sutton, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £11.99. Read Tasting Notes
Restrained nose, with leather, coffee, black fruits & stewed plum, swirling revealing much greater depth of fruit with slightly syrupy blackcurrant to the fore. The notably mouth-watering sourness dominates with subtle black fruit / olive in support. The finish is quite tight with moderate tannins joining the acidity to deliver a noticeably drying finish. Too young for my tastes, with nothing at the moment that makes it particularly enjoyable. However I think the acid & tannin, plus a fruit profile with potential, could make this much more appealing in 3-6 years time. Indeed this comes across a little more ‘seriously’ that the last time I drank a bottle (maybe a decade ago?). With venison steak, the wine played a good support role, with tannins and acidity balancing off against the richness of the meat. It didn’t shine with the food, but it was a good match.
13/20
Mike Bartlett, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Lots of fruit, blueberries and some leather. Less forgiving on the palate, needs to open up? Good mouthfeel and some length. Quite a serious wine. I did put the wine in the fridge for 20 minutes or so, just to freshen it up a bit, but it may have also needed decanting. It is well made wine, that could benefit from a year or two in the cellar, and needs food in my view. It’s very good value at the Waitrose offer price of £7.99, but perhaps less so at the full price of £10.99 (which is a very competitive price point. e.g Cairanne?) Food helped a great deal. Like many wines from the Rhone (indeed from the old world!) this needs food to really work in my view. Gloucester Old Spot sausages with salad worked a treat.
Cameron Clark, The Netherlands
Buy again: No. Value: Poor. Price paid: £8.40. Read Tasting Notes
On day one subtle vanilla oak and red fruit. Not alcoholic. On day 2 the fruit has come more to the fore and the vanilla has receded. Its more inviting, but there is also a slight touch of alcohol. This needed a day to open up. On day 1 it was hard, angular and short. There was some fruit, but it was not great. On day 2 (after 2 glasses on day 1) its a lot better. The fruit is sweet, it’s round and despite a slight metallic edge on the finish, its quite attractive with a touch of glycerine. Its also rather boring though and there is nothing about the wine that draws me in. It’s a reasonable wine that either needs a long decant or a few years in the cellar. The cork is surprisingly long and gives the impression that this is a wine keep. Its no more than a well made modern wine though and while it’s ok at just under 10 euro, it would be poor value at a higher price point. I’d give it 83/100.
Chris Dunlop, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Poor. Price paid: £8.99. Read Tasting Notes
Dark fruit, esp black cherry. A little leafy. Tannic, which softened after a few hours. Quite fat, but unrefined. Fine, if not very interesting, with food. Uninteresting and a little bitter on its own. I’d prefer to drink this with food, but the food didn’t make me think more of the wine.
Alan George, UK
Buy again: Yes. Value: Average. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Blackberry & Morello Cherry, Vimto, medicinal like Germolene, fresh pine forest. Medium front loaded tannins, liquorice, aniseed, lingering white pepper finish. Good value CdR showing softer tannins with food.
Claire George, UK
Buy again: Yes. Value: Good. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Black fruit, mint, lavender, pine on the nose. Meaty, black fruit, woodland herbs, Christmas, medium dry, fairly well balanced, low acidity, medium tannin, spruce. Tasty, well-balanced, good example of this type of wine. Did not significantly improve with food.
Mark Palmer, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Poor. Price paid: £10.99. Read Tasting Notes
Fairly primary nose of cooked strawberry and perhaps cooked plum. When cooler there is a distinct vegetal edge and a hint of pepperiness, although the former tends to be subsumed when the wine is warmer. Medium full-bodied, broadens quite quickly as the strawberry and plum fruit hits the palate. Round in the mouth rather than long. Relatively simple and with a surprising acidity for this label. When cool there is also a slightly underripe savoury element, which like the nose tends to be subsumed when warmer. Tannins are quite fine, are reasonably covered by fruit, but have a slightly stickiness. A decent effort in what looks to have been a slightly tricky vintage, the tannin quality, level of acidity and slightly vegetal edge attesting to some difficulties. Normally this wine used to improve a little with age, but in this particular vintage I’d suggest for drinking relatively soon before the fruit fades and the stitches open up. Definitely worked better with food than when dissected for analysis, the more difficult edges tending to disappear and the gently rounded fruit qualities emphasised over the structural elements.
Mark Roper, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £8.00. Read Tasting Notes
Somewhat muted which was surprising, no fruit aromatics, just a bit dull. Lots of acidity and tannin, not a lot of flavour, a bit disjointed and dull. I think this must be an off bottle, as I would expect a lot more. Looking back at my notes I haven’t had this since the 05 vintage, which suggests I didn’t like it then either although I do drink other southern Rhone wines occasionally. Didn’t improve with food.
Name withheld (Female), UK
Buy again: Yes. Value: Average. Price paid: £8.99. Read Tasting Notes
Medium intensity, with primary flavours of red fruit – cherry, raspberry, plum. Hint of sweet spice. Dry, medium tannins and acidity; body medium plus. Again the fruit flavours are forward but a little darker on palate – black cherry, plum. Warm spice. Medium length. Very pleasant; good wine, well balanced acidity, tannins and fruit but not the most complex or long on palate. Better with food but it had been opened for longer – seemed richer, fuller. Tasted with venison casserole.
14/20
Nick Alabaster, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Poor. Price paid: £8.99. Read Tasting Notes
Initial Coravin pour was very youthfully jammy-very fresh and fruit driven, but the high tannic grip on the palate made it somewhat unpleasant to drink. The 3rd pour 2 weeks later and it improved considerably. Nose offered a hint of liquorice and spice to red and black fruit, no oak in evidence. Colour was a deep mid ruby, with hint of purple on rim. Maybe a 2-3 decant would have the same effect as waiting 2 weeks under Coravin. But now the tannins had softened. Still present, but under control in a mid-bodied, fruit driven wine. Palate character followed nose; youthful with hint of warm spicy fruit. Rather short on length. The big issue was lack of persistence. This the quality of a 5-6 pound CdR and no more; pleasant, simple, reflective of origin and status, but name perhaps, along with artificial price inflation for subsequent ‘discount’ seemed at play here. I see it as likely to be better in 2-3 years to soften the wine naturally, but it won’t improve the quality. Not tried with food, but I suspect it will provide good simple glugging over a simple meal, or BBQ, with the food helping to tame any residual tannin.
Aaron Barnes, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £20.00. Read Tasting Notes
Purchased in a wine bar. Raspberry/strawberry jam – fruity and down to earth, jam on toast. Dry and fruity – rooty. Good red – would drink with a steak!
Tom Cannavan, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Fruity, quite ripe and dense with forest fruit aromas, even a touch of strawberry pulp, and just a hint of briary quality and very light peppery spice. Super-sweet fruit as it strikes the palate, quite curranty and quickly becomes slightly stretched over the acidity. Lip-tingling spice and alcohol, though only medium bodied, and that touch of astringency detracts from the finish. Enjoyable enough, but there is something about the balance and that slightly astringent finish that feels as if the fruit sweetness is masking a bit of dilution perhaps, so it tastes more like a £7 or £8 wine than a £14 one to me. Much better with food, the wine richer as the astringency is masked.
Anthony Davies, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Slightly dusty fruit – plum, blackberry and brambly – fruit becomes cleaner with more air/time in the glass – some blackcurrant coming out. Dried herbs de Provence (thyme, fennel) – smells warm. Still very primary. Bright and fresh fruit – blackberries and touch of raspberry. Tannins are chewy and rustic, acidity is fairly high. Alcohol shows, slightly harsh on the finish. Feels slightly out of balance right now – the tannins and acidity making it quite hard work and the alcohol is a tad overwhelming. I’ve tried many vintages of this wine and this one isn’t as pleasurable as previous vintages. Palate doesn’t live up to the attractive nose. Food (Milano salami) eases the tannins somewhat but still left with a rather harsh taste of alcohol and a hint of bitterness.
Paul Dollymore, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Clean on the nose; medium intensity. Aromas of blackcurrant, hints of nutmeg, black pepper and cedar. Dry, medium acidity, high tannin and medium body. Flavours of blackcurrant, prune, kirsch and black pepper. Long finish. Quite understated for Côtes-du-Rhône. Not a criticism, but comparatively subtle and well balanced compared to other Côtes-du-Rhône I’ve had. For a shiraz grape, I think I’d expect the spiced notes to be more pronounced, and for it to have a fuller body. With food I found it to taste more acidity and slightly sweeter. Food increased the red fruit character (red cherry) and the prune flavour intensified. In addition it brought out hints of cinnamon and charred wood. For me, it had more interest when drinking with food (for reference, I drank this with a beef bourguignon).
Carina Kjörling, Sweden
Buy again: Yes. Value: Good. Price paid: £10.30. Read Tasting Notes
Spices, dark berries (cherries) and some sweetness (vanilla from oak). More pepper, together with the berries there is also a clear note of licorice. Some tannins but not at all chewy. The acids and the tannins are in balance. The pepper lingers on. A more than decent wine in this price range.
Alistair Scott, UK
Buy again: Yes. Value: Average. Price paid: £9.00. Read Tasting Notes
This was a family tasting. Opened slightly cool room temperature, surprised how little on the nose – used big Riedel syrah glasses. Eventually some sweet blackcurrant and a pine element (identified by daughter) but even warmed didn’t have much to offer. ‘Stalky’ was wife’s immediate word – she often prefers fairly bold wines. Thin grainy tannins and very much a front of mouth feel, perhaps medium weight. Not much length. Again darker berry fruit. We felt it was a bit bland and one dimensional, with no notable character or distinguishing features though perfectly harmless. Would buy it and drink it if nothing else on the shelves but felt that we would be tempted to take a £10 punt on something likely to be more upfront even if less reliable. Would probably not buy as a sipping wine, only with food. Tried with Vietnamese beef pho, so fairly beefy aromatic food. The slight tannin edge made it reasonably effective and definitely better than drunk alone but really more as a lubricant than something to savour.
Clare Simpson, UK
Buy again: Yes. Value: Average. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Quite closed, dark fruits/cherry. Balanced, a bit of tannin. Strong legs – quite a lot of alcohol on palate; not a lot of fruit. Not very keen. Closed. Seems well made but too young? Needs a bit of age? Needs food, not great on its own.
Uillaim Tait, UK
Buy again: Yes. Value: Good. Price paid: £8.99. Read Tasting Notes
Fresh initially, red fruit, hedgerow greenness and orange peel. It then turns darker with air, more serious, blacker fruit, olive, pepper (Syrah?) and something leathery. It seems like it’s holding back something, there’s depth here. Bright palate, tastes like good solid syrah, black fruited, violets, pepper, leather, olive and leather. Light but spicy tannins, more structure from the acid which is zippy. There’s some dry extract and a bitter olive finish (in a good way) with something more clove like pushing through. Good wine, well made, for the price I paid it’s interesting enough to buy again. I think it could do with some more time in bottle, it seems a touch reticent. Rather like it. At list price it is fair but I’d buy more. Drank with done salami and cheese, worked well but no more. More elegant with food.
Name withheld (Female), UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £8.99. Read Tasting Notes
Short length. Black fruits. Honey and fruits, acidity medium, slight spice. Length medium, tannin medium minus. OK, and did not improve with food.
Name withheld (Male), Finland
Buy again: Yes. Value: Average. Price paid: £12.50. Read Tasting Notes
The fruit profile is very dark with Syrah and spice dominating and the more Grenache-like, sweet/strawberry notes in the background. Quite full-bodied, some nice tannins, ripe and sweet fruit. Not much acidity but enough to keep it together. Surprisingly persistent and fresh finish, though with a bit of heat. I liked it more than I expected. There are enough savoury aspects to keep the southern sunny fruit in check. It seems like a very decent CdR – does what it says on the tin.
14.5/20
Michael Warner, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Poor. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Deep, dark, ripe fruit – blueberry/blackberry. Touch of earthiness. Verging on jammy. A bit heavy/over-ripe and jammy fruit characters – but nice acid as well. Good length and weight. Overall becomes a bit cloying and heavy. Good well made wine, but not to my taste which is not surprising. The initial impressions were good – and it seemed like there was sufficient acid to maintain freshness. But over time the ripeness and richness becomes a bit clumsy. With food and time it became more clumsy and cloying.
15/20
Rod Ashley, UK
Buy again: Yes. Value: Good. Price paid: £10.99. Read Tasting Notes
Fruits of black currant, some background pepper. Nice weight of fruit, with warm spices. Well balanced. I liked this wine. Very drinkable on its own, or with food.
Ray Queley, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £8.00. Read Tasting Notes
Red fruits dominate. It seems quite bright and fresh. Medium body, nice fresh fruit. It’s in no way flabby or over alcoholic. Sightly drying finish. Decent enough wine. No fireworks. A full price there are more exciting wines out there but served with food it’s a reliable wine.
Leah Vellam-Steptoe, UK
Buy again: Yes. Value: Average. Price paid: £20.00. Read Tasting Notes
Purchased in a wine bar. Fruity, raspberry and herbs. Amazing.
David Woodall, UK
Buy again: Yes. Value: Good. Price paid: £10.99. Read Tasting Notes
Not giving much up, initially, maybe a little leafy, herbaceous. On stimulation this gives way to seductive cooked soft summer pudding fruit invoking images of the brambles of the garrigue. Quite silky mouth feel, well balanced with soft tannins and a level of acidity that is in keeping with the fruit whose darker, smokier flavours come to the fore in mid-palate once the acidity and tannins have loosened their light grip. Coats the mouth well, flavours linger developing some coffee-like dimension as well as the brambly fruit. Very enjoyable wine that is easy to approach now without being too light, retaining a harmony of fruit, tannin and acidity (whilst disguising the high alcohol level) and offering development through the palate, Showing enough typicity to qualify as a benchmark Cotes Du Rhone by which others could be judged. Tried with Bavarian smoked cheese, which rather overwhelmed the subtleties of the wine. Not an ideal pairing but the siren of the wine has seduced me back after supper!
Tim York, France
Buy again: No. Value: Poor. Price paid: £8.99. Read Tasting Notes
Typical of the region showing brambly dark fruit, some pepper and a hint of liquorice. Later on it opened up somewhat adding some plum and a little cherry. Medium/full bodied and quite structured but not giving the follow through and development of fruit and aromatics which I expected from the nose. Fair acidity and good structure with a dab of chocolate towards the finish. Sound and robust but a bit simplistic and lacking in charm and moreishness; one-third of the bottle left. It will be interesting to see if it opens up tomorrow. There are better values to be had for €8.99 in the Rhône valley and elsewhere but, if stuck with nothing else on hand, I might stretch out for it again for, say, a barbecue. Re-tasted, the wine is better integrated and more expressive after 48 hours under VacuVin in the fridge. Worth 15/20. With hindsight it looks as if decanting would have been beneficial. But I still think that there are better CDRs and CDRVs around for the same price or less.
Name withheld (Male), UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Quite muted. Warm, ripe mulberry nose with hints of smoke and spice. Medium bodied, silky. Light tannins at the end. Reasonable acidity stops it from being too sticky. Low impact, not much character or complexity, simple. Quite simple and anonymous. Lacks interest but well made and balanced wine. Easy drinking. No improvement with food.
Name withheld (Male), Australia
Buy again: Yes. Value: Good. Price paid: £12.00. Read Tasting Notes
Liquorice, dark fruit, pepper. Savoury, dark berries, black currant, a touch of spicy plum jam, mild tannins, medium body, medium length, drying finish. Really good value wine, very easy drinking, but should improve with age.
Name withheld (Male), UK
Buy again: No. Value: Good. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Dark stone fruits, peppery. Straightforward. Balanced, refreshing, carries its 14% well. Tannins prominent, glad I decanted 2 hours before drinking. Enjoyable without being memorable. Better with food than alone.
Name withheld (Female), UK
Buy again: Yes. Value: Good. Price paid: £8.99. Read Tasting Notes
Medium nose. Red stone fruit. Dry red wine with medium- acid and medium- tannin. High alcohol with full body and medium+ flavour intensity. Robust red stone fruits with good finish. An excellent wine with food but also very drinkable on its own.
15.5/20
Paul Armstrong, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Touch of alcoholic heat to start, but gave way to a mix of white pepper and blackcurrants. Pleasant but a little closed I thought. Warm blackcurrant entry, smooth mid palate texture offering a blend of dark fruits, tar and earth. Slightly hot finish, rich but somehow still a bit “hollow”. A good sturdy young Rhone, warm and welcoming, powerful & smooth and surprisingly easy to drink already, although I suspect another couple of years would do it no harm at all. Saved half a bottle to try again the next evening. Tasted very similar to day 1, but the nose had opened out a bit and now offered a nice hint of the bacon fat more commonly found on northern rhone wines. The wine coped well with chicken in madeira sauce on day 1, and chickpea fritters & sweet’n’sour sauce on day 2. The power and acidity of the wine would probably cope with pretty much any food I felt!
16/20
Zoe Fisher, UK
Buy again: Yes. Value: Good. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Black and red bramble fruits, hard green herbs, touch of leather. Autumn fruits front and mid palate, long slightly spicy finish, also a freshness. Approachable and more-ish. Food lifted the fruits and softened the finish.
Name withheld (Female), France
Buy again: Yes. Value: Good. Price paid: £10.00. Read Tasting Notes
White peach, floral – lilies, lychee and a touch of lemon. Good weight on the palate with acidity to carry the rich fruit. Solid wine, exceptional at the price point. Great on its own but better with food. Paired well with an Abondance cows milk cheese and rounded off the palate and softened the acidity.
16.5/20
Joseph Mansfield, UK
Buy again: Yes. Value: Good. Price paid: £10.99. Read Tasting Notes
Quite muted, dark cherry and raspberry fruit and marzipan. With a little air some gentle herbs and spices appear (bay, cloves). Palate is much more forthcoming. Quite rich and dense – ripe blackberry and black cherry with warm liquorice in the background. Good concentration and quite supple tannins. Decent length A well made, interesting wine of depth and good subtlety for the price. Served with the excellent Kleftiko from Rick Stein’s “From Venice to Istanbul”, this really came into its own. The tannins became even softer and the herbs came to the fore.
17/20
Paul Crowe, UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £8.99. Read Tasting Notes
Red cherry, sllght cedar. Full bodied, ripe cherries, good balance, full length. Very pleasant, good structure.
Laura Falk, USA
Buy again: Yes. Value: Good. Price paid: £12.00. Read Tasting Notes
Black and red fruit, Earth and herbs, Violet, Clean. Blackcurrant, Ripe black Fruit, Soft tannins, High alcohol, Black pepper. Nice wine. Fantastic with food! Fried cheese curds, fresh herb French fries, Bratwurst.
Name withheld (Male), UK
Buy again: Yes. Value: Good. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Aroma of berries, possibly blackcurrant. Light tannins, with medium length. Slight hint of pepper in the background and a fairly smooth finish. Would go well with most meats or anti pasta. Good quality mid range Cote du Rhone and fairly priced even though on offer at Waitrose. Original price £10.99 reduced to £7.99. Overall a not too heavy easy drinking wine I think most people would enjoy. When tried with anti pasta became much more fuller in flavour.
Name withheld (Male), UK
Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
A bit thin, no fruit. Quite tannic, with a bit of an edge. Good overall and better with food.
18/20
Name withheld (Male), UK
Buy again: Yes. Value: Average. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Good.
The 2012 Vintage mini-PCE
Matthieu Guinard, Finland
Score: 12.0. Buy again: No. Value: Average. Price paid: £12.45. Read Tasting Notes
Served around 16°C, after 30min opening. Tasted in Zalto Universal. Nose is dominated by spices (pepper, hint of cinnamon). It develops with time on dark cherries and currant. A touch of thyme and flowers… very elegant, good structure. The attack is clean. The wine widens on a nice fresh fruit, red currant notably. Then the wine gets slimmer in the second part of the palate and the ending is long but on a very green and bitter note, acidity is high. No strong tannins. A very nice nose but a difficult and even unpleasant mouth, very rough in the end. This is quite typical of an entry level average Côte du Rhône. The wine is in the end quite light and if far from the best examples of the region (the basic Côte du Rhône from Domaine des Cailloux in Châteauneuf du Pape is far better and slightly cheaper). My opinion did not change with food. As expected the wine integrated more its acidity and greenness but remained rough and not very food friendly.
Alan Simpson, UK
Score: 15.0. Buy again: Yes. Value: Average. Price paid: £7.99. Read Tasting Notes
Elegant nose, but not very intense. Ripe fruit – blackberry, hints of spice Darker fruit on palate – cherry. Nicely ripe tannin. Decent acidity. Good length and attractive, slightly spicy finish. Attractive and quite classy. Well balanced. Better with food (hard cheese)
Name withheld (Male), UK
Score: 16.0. Buy again: Yes. Value: Average. Price paid: £8.99. Read Tasting Notes
Medium intensity. Black fruits. Good balance. Not too much tannin. Good body. Long finish. Easy drinking now with or without food. Good value at £8.99 and even better with food.
Mahmoud Ali, Canada
Score: 16.5. Buy again: Yes. Value: Good. Price paid: £11.60. Read Tasting Notes
A dark-fruited, cherry-scented, earthy, minerally driven nose. Plenty of garrigue and old oak. With time the nose evolves, showing barnyard elements and more perfume. This is a medium-bodied wine, but very dry, earthy, and full of garrigue. The fruit is muted, not in a bad way but rather cherry skinned with some fleshiness. It is loaded with dry tannins and has a leathery finish. By the end of the bottle barnyard elements appear. I quite like this wine. It has a dry, savoury element that suits my palate. It is drinking well now and is very enjoyable though I don’t think it is one to cellar for long. There is quality and character here. I drank this wine with food, and later on its own. As with most good wines with character, it improves with food, in my case with rare steak pan-fried with salt, pepper, oregano and parsley flakes, and a hint of cinnamon.
Christopher Loomis, USA
Score: 16.5. Buy again: Yes. Value: Good. Price paid: £12.00. Read Tasting Notes
Black fruit, cherry and currant, leather, violet. Cherry and black currant, slight plum, forest floor earthiness, black pepper, soft tannins, low acid. Drinking very well, nice balance, med body and very smooth. Food brought forward the pepper and fruit, extended the finish considerably.
Go to PCE 2017 Results.
I also tried the 2012. An absolute brett bomb! With enough air it became more civilised, and overall it’s better balanced and interesting than the ’13. But I still struggle to go much above 14 for overall quality. Let’s call it 14.5, and not great value at full price, more acceptable with enough discount.
Thanks Nick. I didn’t taste the 2012, but I guess that might be what some people liked rather than the pretty straightforward fruit of the 2013?