Monday

Château Calage GSM - ~$8

Is there really a Château Calage? Something majestic, with the white, Disney-like spires you actually sometimes find in Germany and Austria? Only way over in the Languedoc, up off the Mediterranean Sea?

Well, no, but you already knew that. But the absence of spires doesn’t mean that this isn’t a good wine. The grapes (Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre) come from the quite large Coteaux du Languedoc appellation and while the bottle's back-label association of this wine with the “terroir of Châteauneuf du Pape” is a bit of a stretch, it’s not too much to say that the “Chateau” has managed a nice impersonation of a pretty good southern Côtes du Rhône.

This is a rustic wine in a good, brambly way. Dried cherry and tobacco on the palate with good, grippy tannins on the finish – hard to complain at the price.


Score

Drinkability: 8.5/10
Price: 4.5/5
Total value: 13/15

1 comment:

  1. Right on! Absolutely perfect review.
    Totally honest & dead on observation.
    Tank wine made into a proprietary gem.
    Industrial swill (or not) that tastes like the real thing. This wine is like a Monet poster - the impression is real but the substance isn't.
    The wine buyer deserves a reward for having such a great palate. I'm very impressed.

    ReplyDelete

Individual taste matters! What did you think of the wine?