Hello;
Slowly recuperating from a baddish influenza with accompaniment of asthma,
being on corticosteroids fro the duration - I´m getting off-topic as well as
maudling, amn´t I?
To the point:
Ch De la Negly (La Clape) "Brise Marine" (CdL) 2002
A lovely little white, made fro the Southern "Bourboulenc" variety (Danke
sehr, Herr Pronay!)
[c] Light gold
[N]Very floral, bordering on honeysuckle
[P] Continues floral, with hints of melon, mature green grapes (not
muscats), as expected, no acidity at all. Still a refreshing drink with
lutfisk .. (this is a joke, OK?)

Ch Rouquette sur Mer (La Clape) 2001
An assembly of several grape varietals, unfrotunately, I don´t remember
which ..
[c] Grenadine
[N] Slight animality, roast pork ... whiff of oak, whiff of minerals
[P] Rather dominant oaky tannines, gives impression of containing plenty of
stuff but the tannicity is a bit on the severe side. The fruit is very
nearly obscured by it. Bit of pork roast on the palate, too.
I would guess that this one contains at least Syrah and Grenache, but not
Mourvedre. I found most of the Langeudoc reds we tasted in August were made
of mixes, containing these three in various combinations with Cinsault and
Carignan, and a few of the Bordeaux varieties.
This may improve with age - I can´t say. It may also be one that has been
beaten to death with an oak mallet.
We had it with the turkey I mentioned a few days ago - I can´t say it added
anything to it - perhaps a more gamy brid, like duck, would have fared
better.

Labech Merlot 2000 (Michel Laroche).
Also grenadine, young, bluish.
[N] I´d say this was a very typical Merlot nose, fruity, berries, and a
certain raisiny character
[P] On the palate, it is also a rather fruit-driven wine, very rich and
satisfying, with more modest tannines, more emerging from the grapes than
the good French oak .. I´d guess. May have some cellaring potential, but is
a good quaff as it is.

Banyuls 1998 Chapoutier
[C] Fairly typical brick red
[N] Honeyed, fudgy, minerality
[P] Sweet without being cloying, started a bit off color, even some weirdly
chemical notes ... turned OK at second sip, good tannicity, good fruit.
(Not to Mike T: This is not in the same league as the one you served us last
summer, the one provide by Le Gitane - it doesn´t have anyway near that
complexity and richness, while costing about the same. See what we have to
put up with!)

We wish you all a continued Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Xina and self, in a grey and utterly un-christmas-like Southern Sweden
--
Respond to nils dot lindgren at drchips dot se