Poured into a decanter about an hour prior to service. The 2005 “Panoplie” pours a deep garnet color with an opaque core; medium+ viscosity with moderate staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is vinous, with notes of ripe and desiccated black and red fruit: blackberries, Marionberries, raspberries, black cherry, strawberry, leather, mushrooms, purple flowers, cocoa, old wood and a mix of dry organic and inorganic earth. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long and simply delicious. Drink now through 2040+. — 2 months ago
Full of dark fruits with consistent finish. I think it needs more time to open up for smoother flavor. — 3 months ago
[44% Mourvèdre, 43% Grenache, 9% Counoise, 4% Cinsaut] Tavel-style medium-dark salmon color Rose that I look forward to trying every year, very French-like with the Mourvèdre really showing, the Grenache adds some very nice round redfruits, the Counoise and Cinsault really lifting the acid and the wine, quite a full-bodied rose, longish finish, as always, very, very good!! — a month ago
- 38% Viognier 32% Grenache Blanc 22% Marsanne 8% Roussanne. Nose has wet hay, marzipan, fresh and fermented pear, wet limestone. Fairly intense but lovely and balanced in the mouth. A bit of unripe pear fruit, grapefruit zest, loads of stony minerality taking over as the finish progresses, with a nice bitter prickle at the end. Very nice acids. I like this a lot. — 4 months ago
Doug Powers
Honey and lemon aromas and flavors in this solid aged CA Rhone Blanc, 75% Roussanne in this particular vintage, nice balance, good weight and depth, lingering finish, only thing missing is the oily, viscous component that many French Rhone Blanc made predominantly with Roussanne or Marsanne often exhibit. A bottle we had of this exact same wine back in February of this year showed much better. — 12 days ago