Le Cousin 2009

scottreiner

scottreiner

scott reiner
Olivier Cousin is a natural winemaker from the Anjou in the Loire Valley in France. Every year I love his Gamay Anjou, but I have more trouble with his Le Cousin Rouge. Not in 2009.

The 2009 Olivier Cousin Le Cousin Rouge VdT is 100% old vine Grolleau. Traditionally, Grolleau is used to make ros wine, in fact it is the primary grape in Ros d'Anjou. For the most part I agree with this decision. The versions I have had of Le Cousin Rouge in the past have been austere, dry and no fun. I always thought that the increased maceration time needed to make red wine was just too much for Grolleau. But, in 2009 Olivier has made a great red. It's all about tasty, chuggable red fruit with a supporting cast of minerality that knows its place and stays there. None of the problems of the past are present, it just puts a smile on your face. 2009 is the first year that Olivier lightly filtered the wine, maybe that made the difference...

Chill it a bit and enjoy it with food or without in the warm weather!
 
originally posted by scottreiner:
2009 is the first year that Olivier lightly filtered the wine, maybe that made the difference...
Click to expand...

Interesting, Cousin never seemed like the type. I guess this is a case of an experiment going horribly right.
 
originally posted by scottreiner:
Le Cousin 2009Olivier Cousin is a natural winemaker from the Anjou in the Loire Valley in France. Every year I love his Gamay Anjou, but I have more trouble with his Le Cousin Rouge. Not in 2009.

The 2009 Olivier Cousin Le Cousin Rouge VdT is 100% old vine Grolleau. Traditionally, Grolleau is used to make ros wine, in fact it is the primary grape in Ros d'Anjou. For the most part I agree with this decision. The versions I have had of Le Cousin Rouge in the past have been austere, dry and no fun. I always thought that the increased maceration time needed to make red wine was just too much for Grolleau. But, in 2009 Olivier has made a great red. It's all about tasty, chuggable red fruit with a supporting cast of minerality that knows its place and stays there. None of the problems of the past are present, it just puts a smile on your face. 2009 is the first year that Olivier lightly filtered the wine, maybe that made the difference...

Chill it a bit and enjoy it with food or without in the warm weather!
Click to expand...

Interesting. This is the wine I do like every year from Cousin. The other wines have been much more variable and prone to horrible bacterial flaws.

A little filtration isn't a terrible thing.
 
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