I have only come across this grape in blends, so I had to try a varietal example when I saw one! I do wonder if this was representative of the grape and if so, what it brings into a blend? It seemed otherwise so generically sweet as to go for Grenache and so tannic that might not Mourvèdre cover up the structure part in a blend?
Gérard Bertrand Réserve Spéciale Carignan Vieilles Vignes 2007 - Languedoc, Vin de Pays de l'Aude; 11,49€; 13% abv; synthetic cork.
Deep, purplish colour. An almost jammy scent of red berries. It gains a pleasantly savoury edge with a little air. The alcohol, though quite modest for a Southern French wine, does show rather too much (and just for the conspiracy theorists: our monopoly actually checks that the label is within EU standards of +/-0,5% before allowing it to be sold in Finland, so the label's 13% can be presumed accurate to that degree!). Sweet fruit, at first so overwhelmingly so that it seemed like a structureless blob. But it firmed up very well with a little air and ended up pleasantly firm and tannic - I wonder how such a transformation can happen? Perfectly decent and inoffensive if nothing special - a bit obvious, boring and unexciting but still perfectly drinkable, i.e. exactly what I expect from the South at this price in Finland.