A few days ago, an old friend, GD, was in town. So another old friend, LC, invited us both over for wine and BBQ. In keeping with gender stereotypes, LC’s husband, GM, did the actual BBQ-ing.
Grilled meat seemed like a good chance to try a Vacqueryas I had. I’m a fan of the region, generally, but hadn’t tried this particular one before. Plus, it was a chance to have more guest helpers for the review than you can shake a stick at. Mainly because when I tried, LC yelled at me, and said we weren’t allowed to play with sticks in the house. This is blatantly unfair, as her daughter, AM, is playing with a stick in the house, although she had the foresight to call hers a magic wand.
In the glass
An interesting wine. It looks cloudy in the glass, but if you hold it up to the light, it becomes clear it isn’t. Various guest tasters all agree that it looks cloudy but isn’t. So it isn’t just me. Or they are all humouring me. My first go at an approximation of colour is ‘burnt watermelon.’ I have no idea why, except I must be channelling TE. LC goes with rust. AM brings ‘geranium’ into the conversation. No one who knows what colour geraniums tend to be (which excludes me) really agrees with her, but her coloured marker labelled ‘geranium’ is indeed a decent match for the wine. LC in the end declares it is ‘rusty geranium.’
Whatever it is, it’s medium, and fades quite a lot towards the rim.
The nose
I come up with something red, that, as per my usual, I can’t quite place. Not redcurrant. Not quite raspberries. I end up coming up with: It’s some sort of bruised red fruit. GD sort of agrees with my description. And both he and the wine are French, so I must be on to something. He also goes with blackberry, and thinks it has a spicy nose. LC insists there’s something floral about it, perhaps even evocative of geraniums. AM, when allowed to smell it, says ‘Oohh…’
The palate
It’s lighter than expected, and had decent acidity. It’s soft, not quite velvety. Soft tannins. The flavour is red fruits. Not quite cherries, but something I can’t quite pin down. There’s general agreement that it is rather fruity, and not a very complex wine. No one else seems to have specific fruits to name, at least according to my notes. There’s not a lot going on, and it doesn’t have the same level of elegance that I’ve come to associate with Vacqueryas. But that’s far from saying it is a bad wine. Perhaps give it a few more years, but I’m not really sure that will change all that much.
GD’s assessment is that it is ‘really likeable,’ and it’s hard to disagree with that.
It did go quite well with the BBQ, once that was ready. And it is fine on it’s own. Just not, too me, a traditional Vacqueryas.
Rating
Yummy overall. It’s really likeable, as GD said, but for me, there’s not much beyong that. Visually, it’s intriguing. I’m taken by the cloudy / not-cloudy appearance, so for a rating on visuals, I’m going with Pretty.
Sustainability
Organic, biodynamic, low-intervention.
The technical info and such
13.5% ABV 85% Grenache Noir, 5% Cinsault, 5% Carignan Noir and 5% Mourvèdre. £24.99 from Cambridge Wine Merchants