2014 Vin de Pays des Cotes Catalanes

Carignan, Syrah, Grenache. Natural fermentation, old-wood ageing, no fining, no filtration. Gentle tamarind nose, the deep, woodsy, earthy nose pulling into the palate, long and defiant and far from easy. Almost Pinot-Noir-like. Truffle savoury. No ripeness to smudge the taut, nervous sinews of the tannins or the close-to-shrill piercing cut of acidity. If ever a wine issued a challenge, this is it. It doesn't even dare you to like it; but it does dare you to come close. On day five, it smelt of s ous bois and bruised wild cherries. Dried game and porcini mushrooms. Tracing-paper-fine tannins and fruit. This is a wine that, in a room full of people, would sit quietly in the corner, watching. You would need to search it out, maybe on the terrace outside, in the dark, the buzz and light of the dinner party several feet away; you would need to stand beside it for a while, looking at the stars together, and maybe neither of you would say anything. But then you would learn something about it.  (TC)