Tasting, tasting and more tasting!

The Bettane & Desseauve tastings have started up again. The past two days I've had the pleasure of tasting with Thierry Desseauve.  Along with Guillaume Puzot, another colleague, we tasted yesterday at the new appellation of Vinsobres.  It's the northern most appellation of the Côtes du Rhône and the wines definitely reflect this.  The appellation is just outside of the town of Nyons, famous for it's olive oil, at an average altitude of 325m  (about 1000 ft). The wines have a freshness about them that isn't present in some of the more southern appellations. 

After the Vinsobres tasting we moved on to the wines that Guillaume had selected from the appellations of Beaumes de Venise and Gigondas.  The wines from Gigondas were particularly impressive. We ended up with more wines and producers than we thought we would have.  The 2004s are really quite good. They have great structure and lots of fruit, while maintaining good acidity.  They are definitely worth checking out.  2005 is going to be a great vintage too. It's a little harder to taste right now because most of the wines were still tank samples, not yet in bottle.  Lots to look forward to in the southern Rhône!

After finishing up there we headed back to my house for a great dinner prepared by Matt! Then, we kept on tasting.  We had to taste all of the wines I selected from my previous tastings... well, we didn't finish them all as it got too late, so we had to finish up this morning! At 9 am we were at it again. Just after breakfast is often the best time to taste wine. Your palate is fresh, no funky tastes yet, well, that is if you brush your teeth before you eat breakfast! That way you get rid of the toothpaste taste in your mouth too!