Jonathan Loesberg
Jonathan Loesberg
This has always been one of my handful of favorite Cairannes. Mostly we bought their Cairanne or their Cairanne Font d'Estevenas at the Caveau in town, but we decided to visit the domaine to see what else they were doing. They make too many wines and offer tastes of too many vintages to describe all of them. But one is worth marking. They make a special cuvee of 100% Mourvedre (thus it has to be labelled VdP since you have to use 50% grenache for the wine to be a Cairanne. The wine they were tasting was a 2001 with 12% alcohol (another reason it can't be a Cairanne, which has to be at least 12.5%). Certainly at its peak, and not a wine to keep longer, it is nevertheless delightful, with animale and earthy flavors I don't usually associate with Cairanne. They could maybe release it a little earlier, but who am I to second guess them.
I remember when you could at least get the Cairanne and the Font d'Estevenas in the US and I remember getting a Cairanne 01 that aged quite nicely to 10 years. Where are these wines now? Do they even have a US importer?
I remember when you could at least get the Cairanne and the Font d'Estevenas in the US and I remember getting a Cairanne 01 that aged quite nicely to 10 years. Where are these wines now? Do they even have a US importer?