WTN; Cotes de Catalanes + More!

2004 Calvet-Thunevin "Cuvee Constance". Strawberry, bandaid, and alcohol (15%). Tastes like something an enthusiastic, new, but not very skilled Lodi or Foothills winemaker would produce. Guess I don't like 100% Grenache wines very much? Nope.

2006 Jean Luc Tribouley "Les Bacs" More like it. Tastes like some Syrah, Mouvedre, and maybe Carignan in this black-colored blend. Definitely earthier with a good dose of French funk. Plump fruit with nice plum notes, good acidity. High alcohol seems to not be a problem here. Delicious stuff-although my friend Guitar John didn't like the funk very much.

CALIFORNIA

2006 Vezer Cellars Zinfandel. From my resident county (Solano County), this was a pleasant surprise. Definitely a core of big, bold, jammy berry fruit, but said fruit does not totally overwhelm the wine-it's more like a ridgeline of big fruit, with an underlying structure with good acidity. The nose is very earthy and almost Cab-like, but the flavor is all zinfandel.

ITALY

2006 Mio Soave. Produced for Wine Styles by WineBow and its Italian partners, this is very clean, very pure, very citrus-y Soave with a nice mineral, almost metallic (in a good way) baseline. Very refreshing.

2004 Calvet-Thunevin "Cuvee Constance". Strawberry, bandaid, and alcohol (15%). Tastes like something an enthusiastic, new, but not very skilled Lodi or Foothills winemaker would produce. Guess I don't like 100% Grenache wines very much? Nope.

Is that the Thunevin from Ch. Valandraud? Don't blame Grenache if he produces a rather grossly garagiste result in Roussillon.

2004 Calvet-Thunevin "Cuvee Constance". Strawberry, bandaid, and alcohol (15%). Tastes like something an enthusiastic, new, but not very skilled Lodi or Foothills winemaker would produce. Guess I don't like 100% Grenache wines very much? Nope.

Is that the Thunevin from Ch. Valandraud? Don't blame Grenache if he produces a rather grossly garagiste result in Roussillon.

I think so. It was just so SIMPLE. and SWEET.

And, I really do know that there are good Granache wines out there-I've even had a couple of good ones from California!