Critics reviews
David Williams, Guardian.co.uk, 21 Sept 2013
About this WINE
Southern Rhône Blend
The vast majority of wines from the Southern Rhône are blends. There are 5 main black varieties, although others are used and the most famous wine of the region, Châteauneuf du Pape, can be made from as many as 13 different varieties. Grenache is the most important grape in the southern Rhône - it contributes alcohol, warmth and gentle juicy fruit and is an ideal base wine in the blend. Plantings of Syrah in the southern Rhône have risen dramatically in the last decade and it is an increasingly important component in blends. It rarely attains the heights that it does in the North but adds colour, backbone, tannins and soft ripe fruit to the blend.
The much-maligned Carignan has been on the retreat recently but is still included in many blends - the best old vines can add colour, body and spicy fruits. Cinsault is also backtracking but, if yields are restricted, can produce moderately well-coloured wines adding pleasant-light fruit to red and rosé blends. Finally, Mourvèdre, a grape from Bandol on the Mediterranean coast, has recently become an increasingly significant component of Southern Rhône blends - it often struggles to ripen fully but can add acidity, ripe spicy berry fruits and hints of tobacco to blends.
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Description
Tavel Rosé, once so popular, seems not to have benefited from the revitalised interest in Rosé wines in general, perhaps because it is deemed stylistically to be a little clumsy and even foursquare. The Delorme brothers produce two Rosé wines to dash such a perception, but not to lose sight of the features which brought the region and style popularity in the first place.
Made from a tapestry of varieties (Grenache, Cinsault, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Bourboulenc and Clairette since you asked), the wine has no shortage of complexity. A rich rose in colour, the wine’s aromatics continue the floral theme, adding notes of raspberry and youthful cherry. The palate is round and generous, with the red berried fruit to the fore; it will be a good match for white meat, terrines and even fusion cuisine.
Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer
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