La Baronne (Famille Ligneres) Notre Dame

點擊次數：4858

With an opaque, blackish appearance not at all unusual for wines from the Ligneres family, their 100% Syrah 2005 Notre Dame comes from a single chalky, gravelly plot and spent a year in barrique. Distilled fruit, fusil, and pungent notes of cedar, tar, and resin mark the nose. Brine, chili paste, resin, smoked meats, bitter-edged cassis and dried blueberries stain the palate. Chalk and brine underlie the somewhat bitterly-concentrated, black-fruited yet sassy and brightly tart finish. While slightly marked by its aggressive tannin, wood, volatile esters, and alcohol - indeed, aggressive to an extent that some tasters may find off-putting - this powerful wine would be interesting to follow for at least several years. The spirit-like high-toned aromas and aggressively tannic, woody finish of the Ligneres equally powerful and palate-staining, Syrah-based 2005 Alaraic did not similarly tempt me. In the almost perpetually breezy foothills of the Alaric Mountains, the Ligneres family farms more than 200 acres of geologically diverse slopes and terraces. Their wines were formerly quite distinctively labeled under their name, and now bear a uniform label inscribed -La Baronne- (for their Chateau), although for the most part the cuvee names remain unchanged. This is a family-operated estate, although interestingly, the five principles represent two general practitioners, a dentist, a pharmacist, and a biologist, and employ a Tuscan oenological consultant, Stefano Chioccioli. While within the Corbieres region, they bottle all of their wines as vins de pays. I confine my notes to those wines currently on offer in the U.S.Importer: Jackson Family Wines, Santa Rosa, CA; tel. (707) 544 4000