Friday evening, time for wine – but what to try?

I went for a bottle of the CdP, first coravin’d in January this year. I knew this is a mere pup in terms of its evolution but I was curious and needed something bold.

Popped and poured, no decanting, but let to sit in the Zalto for a half hour before tasting.

Colour

Medium to deep ruby

No signs of age on the rim

Numerous red hued tears working their way down the glass, clearly a powerful wine

Nose

First impression on the nose: wild cherry and wild herbs – thyme, oregano. Then a spritz of black pepper, black liquorice, kirsch, just a hint of acetone, old leather chair, ripe blackberry, cola, blood, and a little background smoke. The nose is so complex and constantly evolving.

Taste

Real energy in this wine, with a strong streak of savoury tannins that shoot down the tongue (Syrah), followed by a sensation of prickly bitterness in the cheeks that just linger (Grenache), along with drying upper gums (Mourverdre).

Acidity is unexpected, medium +, and lingers deceptively.

The finish is very savoury and dry, with the Mourverdre showing its character in this very young wine, very savoury, a little bitter. The sweetness is in the bottom of the wine (thinking of it in taste layers) as the Grenache comes out to play leaving a sweet impression in the mouth. Fruit is perfectly ripe, possibly a little baked.

This is very very long, and with that lingering sweetness you get a better sense of the weight of this wine. There is some heat on the finish too, and at 14.5% ABV, I guess that this is to be expected. It feels like the wine has not quite knit yet, the elements are all a little separate at this stage of evolution.

Powerful, complex and youthful, this is going to be a wine for the ages, likely drinking well into its 3rd decade – a wine for the patient who will be handsomely rewarded! Well done, famille Perrin!