Jeff Davidson
Jeff Davidson
Hi Folks,
Haven't had much time for internet forums as I've created a startup with some partners. Patrice and I are still doing work on the PJs website. We received this email today. Notice the date of the tasting note...I'll post my first draft reply and my actual reply below.
From:
Subject: Re: Why I stopped being a customer of PJ Wines...
To: sales@pjwine.com
Date: Tuesday, July 21, 2009, 7:15 PM
I believe the key phrase here is "dumbstruck with awe"
Wine of the Week Profile, 7/18/05
2002 La Passion dune Vie
Ctes du Roussillon
Grenache/Syrah Blend
Ive never been this excited for my customers about a wines quality and price. This wine is better than cult wines costing many times the price. Peter Yi, Owner, PJ Wine
2002 La Passion dune Vie, Ctes du Roussillon Grenache/Syrah Blend $21.97
Offering extraordinary wines at exceptional prices is the ultimate goal for PJ Wine Owner Peter Yi and the rest of the PJ Wine team. This story begins a year and a half ago, when a wine insider and good friend of Peters brought by a new Roussillon wine to try. After tasting the wine, Peter and the PJ Wine team were dumbstruck with awe at the 2002 La Passion dune Vie, such was the intensity of aromas and flavors and its overall polish.
One of the slate-bed, old-vine Grenache vineyards which make up La Passion dune Vie. Peter purchased the entire U.S. allocation of this wine, an incredible opportunity for PJ Wine customers to acquire a meticulously handmade, fine quality wine at a mere fraction of what it should sell for. In fact, the wine was so good, Peter and the PJ Wine team decided to visit the property, which has vineyards composed of extremely rugged, slate soils.
Languedoc Roussillon wines are currently some of the most interesting and cost-competitive in France, and they can be a refreshing change from the bigger, heavier, more alcoholic wines from Australia and California. At their best, wines of the Languedoc Roussillon combine the incredibly ripe fruit of wines from the New World with the deeply spicy, enticing, peppery character of wines from the Rhne valley. The finest examples, like the 2002 La Passion dune Vie, compete with well-made Bordeaux for elegantly articulated fruit, fine tannins, a sumptuously plush mouthfeel and balanced acidity.
Bernard Magrez is a major winemaking force in Bordeaux and other regions of the world. Forty years ago, Mr. Magrez acquired a small liquor company and renamed it William Pitters International. He has gradually built his company into the largest French importer of Scotch whisky. William Pitters eventually expanded into wine; in 2003, approximately half of the Pitters annual revenue of $200 million was from wine sales. The charismatic Mr. Magrez loves to make grand gestures, and he is known to fly visitors over his prestigious Bordeaux properties (including classified growths Chteau Pape Clment, Chteau Fombrague and Chteau La Tour Carnet) in a helicopter. In total, Magrez owns estates in six countries, including twenty-six Bordeaux properties, and he has several winemaking projects underway in Spain, Morocco, Algeria and of course, Languedoc Roussillon.
The 2002 La Passion dune Vie is made from fruit sourced from choice, five to ten acre vineyard parcels on Magrez-owned property in Roussillon. The vines are sixty years old, planted on very thin, crumbly black soils of pure slate. The vines roots must penetrate meters of solid stone to find water and mineral-laden nutrients, and these trace minerals inform the wines deep aromatic and palate complexity. The vines yields are very low, and the tiny berries are extremely concentrated with ideal ripeness levels. Magrez has given winemaker Jean Cordeau and consulting oenologist Michel Rolland a free hand in the winemaking, and the two men have made very traditional and expensive choices in viticulture and vinification (i.e. grapes are sorted berry-by-berry and de-stemmed by hand, theres a "double triage" system with a sorting table, and in the winery all transfers of must or wine is by gravity with no pumping, filtering or fining) to make the highest quality wine possible. Due to the expense involved, these are winemaking methods normally used only by the finest estates, such as First Growth Bordeaux and Grand Cru Burgundy.
The 2002 La Passion dune Vie is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Carignane and Mourvdre that spends 18 months in new French oak barrels. The wine has a character that begins with intense, explosive aromas of brambly, forest undergrowth, dark plums, black pepper, and savory spices, with mineral and mossy loam traces. On the palate, the 2002 La Passion dune Vie is incredibly packed and dense with amazingly ripe dark fruits that unfold in an ultra-creamy mouthfeel. The wine has a grand structure (tannins, acidity and alcohol), but the concentration of fruit and expertly judged oak aging exist in an impeccable balance and harmony. There are noble, extremely fine tannins together with an almost endless finish. The 2002 La Passion dune Vie has an articulated elegance that is most unusual for Languedoc Roussillon wines, which tend to be bigger, more rustic and less polished.
This wine will pair well with broiled, roasted or grilled red meats, game, fowl, venison, and simple country dishes with strong flavors. The PJs team was lucky enough to enjoy it out in the vineyard with a rustic feast of cured sausage; chorizo; grilled steak; fresh, grilled green peppercorn sausage and vine-ripened tomatoes.
Chris
Haven't had much time for internet forums as I've created a startup with some partners. Patrice and I are still doing work on the PJs website. We received this email today. Notice the date of the tasting note...I'll post my first draft reply and my actual reply below.
From:
Subject: Re: Why I stopped being a customer of PJ Wines...
To: sales@pjwine.com
Date: Tuesday, July 21, 2009, 7:15 PM
I believe the key phrase here is "dumbstruck with awe"
Wine of the Week Profile, 7/18/05
2002 La Passion dune Vie
Ctes du Roussillon
Grenache/Syrah Blend
Ive never been this excited for my customers about a wines quality and price. This wine is better than cult wines costing many times the price. Peter Yi, Owner, PJ Wine
2002 La Passion dune Vie, Ctes du Roussillon Grenache/Syrah Blend $21.97
Offering extraordinary wines at exceptional prices is the ultimate goal for PJ Wine Owner Peter Yi and the rest of the PJ Wine team. This story begins a year and a half ago, when a wine insider and good friend of Peters brought by a new Roussillon wine to try. After tasting the wine, Peter and the PJ Wine team were dumbstruck with awe at the 2002 La Passion dune Vie, such was the intensity of aromas and flavors and its overall polish.
One of the slate-bed, old-vine Grenache vineyards which make up La Passion dune Vie. Peter purchased the entire U.S. allocation of this wine, an incredible opportunity for PJ Wine customers to acquire a meticulously handmade, fine quality wine at a mere fraction of what it should sell for. In fact, the wine was so good, Peter and the PJ Wine team decided to visit the property, which has vineyards composed of extremely rugged, slate soils.
Languedoc Roussillon wines are currently some of the most interesting and cost-competitive in France, and they can be a refreshing change from the bigger, heavier, more alcoholic wines from Australia and California. At their best, wines of the Languedoc Roussillon combine the incredibly ripe fruit of wines from the New World with the deeply spicy, enticing, peppery character of wines from the Rhne valley. The finest examples, like the 2002 La Passion dune Vie, compete with well-made Bordeaux for elegantly articulated fruit, fine tannins, a sumptuously plush mouthfeel and balanced acidity.
Bernard Magrez is a major winemaking force in Bordeaux and other regions of the world. Forty years ago, Mr. Magrez acquired a small liquor company and renamed it William Pitters International. He has gradually built his company into the largest French importer of Scotch whisky. William Pitters eventually expanded into wine; in 2003, approximately half of the Pitters annual revenue of $200 million was from wine sales. The charismatic Mr. Magrez loves to make grand gestures, and he is known to fly visitors over his prestigious Bordeaux properties (including classified growths Chteau Pape Clment, Chteau Fombrague and Chteau La Tour Carnet) in a helicopter. In total, Magrez owns estates in six countries, including twenty-six Bordeaux properties, and he has several winemaking projects underway in Spain, Morocco, Algeria and of course, Languedoc Roussillon.
The 2002 La Passion dune Vie is made from fruit sourced from choice, five to ten acre vineyard parcels on Magrez-owned property in Roussillon. The vines are sixty years old, planted on very thin, crumbly black soils of pure slate. The vines roots must penetrate meters of solid stone to find water and mineral-laden nutrients, and these trace minerals inform the wines deep aromatic and palate complexity. The vines yields are very low, and the tiny berries are extremely concentrated with ideal ripeness levels. Magrez has given winemaker Jean Cordeau and consulting oenologist Michel Rolland a free hand in the winemaking, and the two men have made very traditional and expensive choices in viticulture and vinification (i.e. grapes are sorted berry-by-berry and de-stemmed by hand, theres a "double triage" system with a sorting table, and in the winery all transfers of must or wine is by gravity with no pumping, filtering or fining) to make the highest quality wine possible. Due to the expense involved, these are winemaking methods normally used only by the finest estates, such as First Growth Bordeaux and Grand Cru Burgundy.
The 2002 La Passion dune Vie is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Carignane and Mourvdre that spends 18 months in new French oak barrels. The wine has a character that begins with intense, explosive aromas of brambly, forest undergrowth, dark plums, black pepper, and savory spices, with mineral and mossy loam traces. On the palate, the 2002 La Passion dune Vie is incredibly packed and dense with amazingly ripe dark fruits that unfold in an ultra-creamy mouthfeel. The wine has a grand structure (tannins, acidity and alcohol), but the concentration of fruit and expertly judged oak aging exist in an impeccable balance and harmony. There are noble, extremely fine tannins together with an almost endless finish. The 2002 La Passion dune Vie has an articulated elegance that is most unusual for Languedoc Roussillon wines, which tend to be bigger, more rustic and less polished.
This wine will pair well with broiled, roasted or grilled red meats, game, fowl, venison, and simple country dishes with strong flavors. The PJs team was lucky enough to enjoy it out in the vineyard with a rustic feast of cured sausage; chorizo; grilled steak; fresh, grilled green peppercorn sausage and vine-ripened tomatoes.
Chris