2023 Domaine Coursodon, La Grenade Syrah, Vin de France

2023 Domaine Coursodon, La Grenade Syrah, Vin de France

Product: 20238248013
Prices start from £32.00 per bottle (75cl). Buying options
2023 Domaine Coursodon, La Grenade Syrah, Vin de France

Buying options

Available for delivery or collection. Pricing includes duty and VAT.

Description

This could be a “mini Silice” as its fruit was part of that blend until a boundary change in 2023. It has a gorgeous nose with classic notes of black cherries and violets. The palate is silky with dark cherry fruit and is fresh and crisp, not heavy at all. The Grenade has certainly hit its mark, finishing with a glorious granitic crunch.

Drink 2024 - 2027

Berry Bros. & Rudd

wine at a glance

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About this WINE

Domaine Coursodon

Domaine Coursodon

Based in St Joseph, this small 16-hectare domaine places great emphasis on its granitic terroir, considering its wines to be both pure and compelling. This is a thread which runs through all the property’s wines. Jérôme Coursodon is the fifth generation of his family to run the estate. Ever affable, he says, “I tend to produce generous, powerful and elegant wines. Wines with a soul, made from grapes with character.”

Jérôme is St Joseph specialist: he only makes wines from this commune and is extremely knowledgeable about its terroir. His Silice Blanc and Rouge are so-named for the high silica content in the soil in those parcels. His L’Olivaie and Paradis de St Pierre lieux-dits cuvées are a masterclass in different styles of St Joseph expression.

Jérôme didn’t suffer too badly with frost in 2021 as his vines are all on the slopes and escaped most of the damage. Nonetheless, the challenging vintage conditions made him take the difficult decision not to produce his Paradis St Pierre Rouge this year, opting instead to concentrate all his efforts on making two exceptional cuvées rather than risk making three weaker ones. It’s always impressive to see a winemaker put quality above quantity in a tough year and it certainly feels like this was the right decision. Containing declassified Paradis fruit, L’Olivaie is particularly stunning in 2021.”

Sadly, Jérôme’s white wines had very low yields in 2022 due to the severe drought conditions, so we can only offer Silice Blanc from this vintage and hope to see the Paradis Blanc return next year.

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Vin de Pays

Vin de Pays

Althought not as stringent as those for AOC, Vin de Pays wines must fulfill certain criteria: they must exclusively derive from their named area, meet precise standards under analysis, come from ‘recommended’ grape varities (as per each département) and must receive a tasting accreditation.

The designation of Vin de Pays is divided into three tiers:

Vin de Pays Régionaux (regional)

These denominations include:

Vin de Pays Départementaux (departmental)

Names of these wines derive from the French départements (administrative divisions similar to English counties) in which the wine is made. There are about 50, for example, 

Vin de Pays de Zone (local)

These are the smallest subdivions of Vin de Pays and are, for the most part, to be found in the Languedoc region. Local names are often drawn from a geographical feature (sometimes no longer recognisable) or historical event. Examples of local names are Vin de Pays des Marche de Bretagne, Vin de Pays des Coteaux du Quercy, Vin de Pays de Cathare and Vin de Pays de la Vallée du Paradis.

The most important of the Vins de Pays is Vin de Pays d’Oc, which is France’s prime source of varietal wine. Roughly 85% of Vins de Pays originate in Languedoc-Roussillon, Provence or the southern Rhône, with a further 6% coming from the Loire. The vast majority of Vin de Pays is red. In terms of price, Vin de Pays is typically young, simple wine from high-yielding vines, and it is usually sold for less than an AOC equivalent.

Wine-growers may choose to bottle their wines as Vin du Pays to take advantage of the flexibility afforded by this designation (for example, certain -usually international- grape varieties and wine making techniques may be prohibited by their local AOC regulations, but they are permitted by their local Vin de Pays).

Thanks to the efforts of some particularly ambitious wine-makers, there are now numerous Vins de Pays that are internationally acclaimed. Some top class estates, such as René Rostaing in Côte Rôtie and Domaine de Coudoulet produce excellent wines in the Vin de Pays designation, as well as bottling using their AOC. 

Notably, the acclaimed Mas de Daumas Gassac produces all its wines exclusively as Vin de Pays (VdP de l'Herault)

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Syrah/Shiraz

Syrah/Shiraz

A noble black grape variety grown particularly in the Northern Rhône where it produces the great red wines of Hermitage, Cote Rôtie and Cornas, and in Australia where it produces wines of startling depth and intensity. Reasonably low yields are a crucial factor for quality as is picking at optimum ripeness. Its heartland, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, consists of 270 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards producing wines that brim with pepper, spices, tar and black treacle when young. After 5-10 years they become smooth and velvety with pronounced fruit characteristics of damsons, raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries.

It is now grown extensively in the Southern Rhône where it is blended with Grenache and Mourvèdre to produce the great red wines of Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas amongst others. Its spiritual home in Australia is the Barossa Valley, where there are plantings dating as far back as 1860. Australian Shiraz tends to be sweeter than its Northern Rhône counterpart and the best examples are redolent of new leather, dark chocolate, liquorice, and prunes and display a blackcurrant lusciousness.

South African producers such as Eben Sadie are now producing world- class Shiraz wines that represent astonishing value for money.

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When is a wine ready to drink?

We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.

Not ready

These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.

Ready - youthful

These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.

Ready - at best

These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.

Ready - mature

These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.