Perrin & Fils 2009 Vinsobres & 2009 Cairanne (France)
30 Nov 2015- Details
- Category: Uncorked Tonight
(July 5 & 6, 2015) ... I find myself in Quebec for a couple of days to help with the moving and inventorying of a wine cellar, so while packing I popped a couple of Rhone reds into my luggage (those who know or read my stuff will not be surprised to learn I also packed proper red wine glasses) - both wines were from the Perrin family and both from the 2009 vintage.
The first is the 2009 Vinsobres "Les Cornuds", a 50/50 blend of Grenache and Syrah of which 35% was aged in French oak ... The aromas were smoky, oaky, black cherry, with licorice and mocha also playing a part. The palate was very much on the same page as the nose from the get go, but then came coffee bean, oak, vanilla, black cherry and rather aggressive tannins, which would smooth over the course of the evening, until it became a nice creamy raspberry mid-palate with delicate spice all wrapped up in 14.5% alcohol that barely showed itself.
The next night I popped the cork on the 2009 Cairanne "Peyre Blanche", a single vineyard number located 15 km north of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, at 14% this wine has half a degree less than last night's candidate and showed more intrigue on the nose with plenty of black fruit and black raspberry along with mocha and a little stoniness - but the aromas came off richer than its Vinsobres counterpart ... The palate proved to be vastly different, not just from last night's wine, but also from what the nose led me to believe: nice minerality but with fruit that comes across as sharp and angular due to the acidity ... As the evening wore on it never did resolve itself and by the end it was easy to say that it was not as ripe and round as the Vinsobres ... A food wine for sure, too bad I had already had dinner.
