Last night and tonight I had the Saint Damien Vieilles Vigne and the La Bouveau. I'll definitely get more of the La Bouveau. In a way I thought the VV was better but on night one it had both bitter and hot notes on the finish. These dissipated on night 2. Not sure what that means - will those disappear after a couple of years in bottle?

• 2010 Domaine Saint-Damien Côtes du Rhône La Bouveau - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône (2/17/2012)
  Very good. Pretty nose with a little barnyard and garrigue spice. Grapey sensation on the palate with red berry flavors, picking up some licorice and spice in the middle and end. Intense acidity. Finish is shortish.

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2010 Domaine Saint-Damien Côtes du Rhône Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône (2/17/2012)
  Very good, pretty nose with red berry fruit, garrigue spice, and a little barnyard. Triple berry flavors on the palate fade pretty quickly to a pronounced licorice flavor with more spice garrigue and stony minerality. On night one the finish was both bitter and hot. After sitting overnight those dissipated with now the licorice lingering considerably. Intense acidity.

Posted from CellarTracker

Another bottle of 2010 St Cosme Cdr is down. It is really an excellent wine showing power but also typicity of the region, finesse, balance, and length. At about $15 per bottle this could become one of my house reds for a while (the type I buy a lot of and work my way through over the course of a year or so).

Grossie
I tried this at the 2010 tasting I went to last year and it was excellent for a cdr. I'd buy a few cases myself if I didn't have so much other wine to drink...

BirD

I'm drinking the Cercius tonight. Opened on Sunday night. I tasted it then, it was good, but I don't remember much about it, was not concentrating on it.

Tonight it smells like plum jelly. The palate is quite drying with some nice minerality and garrigue spice. Maybe some red berry fruit. Interesting contrast between the nose and the palate. Good minerality. Shortish finish.

I'll probably get more of this.

quote:

Originally posted by aphilla:
I'm drinking the Cercius tonight.

Thanks for the note. Just put a 6 pack in the "drink now" section of the upstairs cellar.

PH

Opened a St Damien CDR Vieilles Vignes tonight, enjoying a glass before dinner. Really nice deep color, quite opaque. Blackberry and garrigue on the nose. Really nice medium to full body, with ample acidity and quite a bit of drying tannin. I think if the tannin fades this will be really really great. Very good right now. It's a buy for me, I'll throw a few away for early to mid term drinking.

Drinking the Saint Damien Vieilles Vignes 2010 tonight. Great match with pizza. I would pretty much echo aphilla's notes above and also agree with grossie's comment about the drying tannins. The slight amount of barnyard aromas I got blew away quickly after opening, and I didn't get any in my second glass. Really interesting how much complexity this wine has at it's price point. I'd love to try this wine with a lamb stew cooked with lots of herbs. Thanks grossie for starting this thread - it will aid my shopping!

2010 Domaine Les Grands Bois, CdR Villages, Cuvee Maximilien Cairanne

Glass staining purple and 14.5% alcohol, this is a Parkerized CdR. Don't know what the blend is, but the grenache dominates. Raspberry zinger. Not exactly my style of CdR, but a very good wine and at less than $20 a good deal.

quote:

Originally posted by grossie:
Another bottle of 2010 St Cosme Cdr is down. It is really an excellent wine showing power but also typicity of the region, finesse, balance, and length. At about $15 per bottle this could become one of my house reds for a while (the type I buy a lot of and work my way through over the course of a year or so).

I have one open tonight and I'll get more. It's very nice.

I grabbed eight bottles of the 2010 Cercius as I really enjoyed the 2009 version.

I opened four bottles between November and March (last one in March). I recall the last bottle being much improved over the first (gave an 87 to the first bottle and that has evolved to a 91 for the last). According to my cellartracker comments:

quote:

These bottles are improving over time.. Even though its only been 4 months since I popped the first bottle, the improvement is noticeable. IMO, a good QPR for a great year of a great region of wine.

Also have had the 2010 St. Cosme and thought it was quite nice as well. Don't really recall the notes at the moment but I remember it didn't suck.

Hard to pass on the QPR of either of these bottles.. and honestly why would you

Tonight we had the Domaine de Cristia CdR. I think this is my favorite so far from the '10s. It has a lot of spiciness and a lot of rocky minerality. Quite nice. I think I paid $12.99 at wdc. I'll prolly case up on this.

I'm drinking the 2010 St. Cosme this evening, the first one I've had from '10. Very nice and all the things I expect in a good CdR - spice, bright berry fruit, acidity, dried herbs, minerality. In fact, I'd say it's much more complex than many wines at this price point. Well done.

A little off-topic, but their 2010 CdR white is very nice as well. Too bad there isn't that much of it.

I'm working on a Laurence Feraud CdR tonight. Nose is pretty restrained but very nice drinking.

2010 Andezon - Pop and pour. Rich maroon color with a magenta hue at the rim. Exuberant nose of white pepper, cedar and crushed dark fruit. On the palate, plums, green olive oil and dry cedar. Dry, with a short finish. Fine tannins suggest this will be better in two to 3 years. 89.

The above note is from March. I tried another bottle last night and I thought it had smoothed out and come together a little more (maybe a little bottle variation since it's only been 3 months?). The tannins seemed a little toned down with a softer mouth feel and a little longer finish. 90. Nice QPR at $13.

I preferred this (WA 91) to the Cercius (WA 93). If you like more acidity, then try the Cercius, which is pretty lively.

The Andezon was one of several wines opened tonight with pizza. Quite foul smelling, and the jammy/spritzy flavors are a shock to what the smell offers. I don't think it's corked, but perhaps some other flaw? This is seriously disgusting. Wow. I've seen/heard several others rave about this wine, but if my bottle was representative, it ain't for me.

quote:

Originally posted by billhike:
The Andezon was one of several wines opened tonight with pizza. Quite foul smelling, and the jammy/spritzy flavors are a shock to what the smell offers. I don't think it's corked, but perhaps some other flaw? This is seriously disgusting. Wow. I've seen/heard several others rave about this wine, but if my bottle was representative, it ain't for me.

What we had was definitely an off bottle. A retailer had this open today and it was quite nice, so I'll have to give it another go. Perhaps not post while buzzed, too.

2010 Domaine Les Aphillanthes, CdR, Vieilles Vignes

Opened this last night. Wow. Nice nose of spice and dark fruit. Full bodied and well balanced. Delicious finish.

A little pricier than most CdR's, but worth the extra imho. I'm going back to pick up some more today.

quote:

Originally posted by aphilla:
I'm working on a Laurence Feraud CdR tonight. Nose is pretty restrained but very nice drinking.

Finished a case of this already. Enjoyed the lean style, may go back for another.

Re Saint Damien CdRs:

There are two - one with a white label, which contains more grenache than syrah, and one with a black label, which contains more syrah than grenache. I've had the white label version several times and think it's pretty good for the price. It's been my go to house red for the last two or so months.

Which one is everyone above drinking?

quote:

Originally posted by wineaux:
Re Saint Damien CdRs:

There are two - one with a white label, which contains more grenache than syrah, and one with a black label, which contains more syrah than grenache. I've had the white label version several times and think it's pretty good for the price. It's been my go to house red for the last two or so months.

Which one is everyone above drinking?

the bouveau is the dark gray label, the vv is the white label

@Steve, Yup, the Aphillanthes Vieilles Vignes offering is really luscious and yummy. THe '09 was perhaps a lil' bigger wine, but both are really satisfying.

quote:

Originally posted by steve8:
2010 Domaine Les Grands Bois, CdR Villages, Cuvee Maximilien Cairanne

Glass staining purple and 14.5% alcohol, this is a Parkerized CdR. Don't know what the blend is, but the grenache dominates. Raspberry zinger. Not exactly my style of CdR, but a very good wine and at less than $20 a good deal.

Drinking this one tonight. While quite ripe, it has some nice grip at the finish. I really like this wine.

I have the 2010 Mas de Boislauzon CdR Villages arriving tomorrow for the store. I am going to grab a few for myself. I LOVED the wine back in January via barrel tasting. I hope it is as good now. If anyone wants to try this and cannot find it, email me at justinhome at msn dot com

IW

2010 Dupere Barrera, CdR, Villages

According to the label, Syrah is the main varietal in this bottling, which explains the red plum flavour instead of the raspberry in some of the other 2010's I've tried. Well balanced, easy drinking, decent CdR, but the finish is a little simple. I'd give it an 88. At $20, no need to go back and get more.

The St. Cosme "Les Deux Albion" is pretty tight, even several hours after splash decanting. It started showing well at 3 1/2 hours. Seemed promising but hard to evaluate. A definite hold for me.