Miraval – Bradgelina’s wine. You may have heard about it. But what they’ve done, wisely, is bring in some very well respected winemakers (Perrin) to do the actual work. This one is going to be doubly interesting to review. First, because I know I like this wine, so I’m already biased going in. I have expectations, and worse, I expect the expectations to be met. Second, I have misplaced my notebook. Hopefully it turns up, but since I missed Sunday’s blog posting, I didn’t want to wait longer. So I’m doing this from memory.
In the glass
le. Incredibly so. I suppose it’s a pretty colour. My attempts to wax poetic about it, as I recall, involved describing it as if a single rose petal had given its colour to the entire bottle. No, I hadn’t tried drinking it yet. I was just tired and happy. Anyway, it’s light, pink. Classic Provence rosé. There’s nothing wrong with that.
The nose
Nothing. I could go on in different languages, but can’t be bothered. TY went with Pink Lady, the apple variety.
The palate
Hmm… This is the hardest part to do from memory. Crisp. Dry. A very slight petillance to it, it seems. I ask TY if she’d agree, and she did. But then again, she may have just been humouring me. People do that a lot, I think. Anyway, as the possible petillance suggests, a really nice, zippy acidity.
I can’t say I remember much about the finish. So, let’s call it average in length, but I do seem to recall a nice sort of lingering crispness.
The main thing on the wine is that there’s not a whole lot taste-wise on the palate. Perhaps a faint hint of apple, and something like red currant, but honestly? I think that’s because I’m desperately rummaging through my sensory memory to find something I can also find in the wine. A certain vague, undefined ‘juiciness’ is perhaps closer to the mark.
Rating
Yummy-plus. (TY is torn between Yummy-plus and one higher.) This is an odd rating. Not because it is undeserved, but because I’m not sure why I like it. There’s so little on the taste and nothing on the nose for me that those aren’t really factors. It’s a very pleasant, refreshing wine. Definitely the sort you want to drink slightly chilled, on a warm afternoon. But I’m having such a hard time figuring out why this is. It isn’t bursting with flavour. It’s really refreshing, and good acidity. But beyond that, although than ‘Yum, more please!’ I can’t critically comment on it.
Sustainability
No clue. Miraval‘s website is pretty, but pretty useless for information. Famille Perrin do at least some organic farming, so it’s possible, but unclear. I don’t have the bottle with me to check for certifications. If I remember, I’ll do that and update if needed.
Other stuff
Miraval do a few other wines as well as this, their flagship. Although not quite compares to it, at least in my experience. (For those wondering – it turns out that the notebook is in the wine bar I had the Miraval in. But I’m still doing this post without notes. I think I did ok.)
The technical info and such
13% ABV. Cinsault, Grenache and more. £19.99 from Cambridge Wine Merchants. Widely available.