Château de L’Estagnol
WANT a wine tip? Here are two to start with: Château de L’Estagnol white and red. They’re new to Dunnes Stores, and I think both (but especially the white which I think is outstanding) are really good value at €7 a pop.
They were among quite a few wines that shone at a tasting through 32 of the wines featured in Dunnes Stores French Wine Sale which is on now until Tuesday, Sept 25.
It’s great to see a white Cotes du Rhone get a starring role. The region produces an ocean of really good wines — reds, whites and roses and, really, it’s our loss that we seem less conscious of the Rhone as a source than we are of regions such as Bourgogne and Bordeaux.
As occasionally happens, I found it difficult to restrict my highlights (below) to just six and a further three simply demanded inclusion as follows.
¦ Château Millegrand Minervois 2010 (€10) is a fab balance of tart fruit and ripe creamy-texture and a handsome bosky farmyard scent.
¦ Leval Malbec 2010 Pays d’Oc IGP (€7) is a wine you’d nearly buy for the delicious smell alone — fresh and floral but also dense with dark earthy leather tones.
¦ Millegrand Cité de Carcassonne IGP Merlot (€7), intense with chewy tannins, demonstrates again that despite its reputation, the merlot grape can be turned into grown-up wine — and not just in Bordeaux either.
Notice anything the three have in common? All cost €10 or less, and all hail from the south of France. Coincidence? Nope.
Nor is it mere chance that four of the six highlights below hail from the French value — the Loire, the Rhone and Languedoc-Roussillon in the deep south of the country.
For the sake of completeness, I have included below the higher price as well as the promotional price. But to try to ignore the apparent saving: as ever, all that matters is price you pay at the till — and the deliciousness of the wine in your glass.
Château de L’Estagnol white 2011
This white Cotes du Rhone is gorgeous, a soft creamy middleweight white with a lovely floral/almond perfume — a break from the sometimes rather samey citrus monomania of many popular white wine styles. Its simple red counterpart has a nice sunny disposition, but it’s outshone in my view by the white.
The Corbières appellation is a great example of an overlooked region defying prejudice to become a source of really good wines. In this case, there’s no carignan but a syrah grenache blend that’s certainly big and intensely spicy, attended with the lovely detail of fresh plums and apples.
Just one of the constellation of wine areas strewn the vast length of the Languedoc-Roussillon region, Coteaux d’Ensérune is a new one on me. This bottle, a blend of merlot, cabernet and grenache, is lovely medium-bodied gluggable red plump with dark, ripe fruit.
Down from €18 to €13 at Dunnes until Sept 25
Rich, ripe but elegant and subtle: amid a plethora of new listings from Bordeaux, this is the one I’d choose over the two other cabernet-led bottles from the Médoc.
Pow! If pirates drank white wine this all but uniquely Loire-style sauv blanc would be one they’d get their hooks into: The most delightfully assertive sauvignon blanc shot across with a distinct whiff of cordite — the smokiness sort-of alluded to in the name.
The merlot side of Bordeaux is heavily represented by a slew of new wines from Saint-Emilion. All things considered this is the best of the bunch - a heavenly cherry scent, opening up with breathing to deliver a lovely rich mouthful of crisp spicy fruit.
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