The Auswine Forum

Two Wines Not To Buy:

2003 Vin de Pays d'Aude – Aude, The Midi, France - 11.5%
I forgot the producer but this wine is imported into Australia, so I recommend not buying anything like it. It is terribly sweet with gamay like tutti-fruity characters. Not for my palate but those that enjoy Moselle cask wine might like it. 12.5/20 (Drinkable)

2002 “Dan Murphy’s” Cleanskin Shiraz/Cabernet - Langhorne Creek – 13.5%
A wine of little depth. Some fruitcake Shiraz but predominantly red berries verging on unripe flavours. Balanced oak. Good structure. 13/20 (Drinkable). $6.95

Adair

Hi Adair,
Just for future reference, "Vin de pays" means country wine, or quaffing plonk, the French are masters of producing huge quantities of poor quality wine, as the consumers in France, for the most part don't care what they're drinking. I would advise looking for wines with AOC (Appelation d'Origine controle), the difference in quality is considerable.
cheers,
Simon

I have a look at the cleanskins purely for research purposes and generally find that the wine in the bottle matches the price they are asking.

They must suck in alot of punters though with their "over $20 with a label", "cancelled export order sacrificed" etc blurbs.

What caused you to look this far down market Adair?

Simon wrote:Hi Adair,
Just for future reference, "Vin de pays" means country wine, or quaffing plonk, the French are masters of producing huge quantities of poor quality wine, as the consumers in France, for the most part don't care what they're drinking. I would advise looking for wines with AOC (Appelation d'Origine controle), the difference in quality is considerable.
cheers,
Simon

Hello Simon,

Thanks for the note. However, as I see it, Languedoc-Roussillon can produce some good vin de pays classified wines, especially due to its history of not conforming to the appellation controlee theory that only certain grapes should be used to make wine in certain areas. If there is one French region that is like Australia, this would be it.

There are indeed 6 or so AC regions in this massive area, but these classifications are relatively recent, and the vast majority of wines are still vin de pays classified. I am sure that some good wines can be found in this mass... obviously not this one. Furthermore, my quick look into the wines from Aude found that ligher, dare I sweeter, dry wines are their speciality(!?).

Kind regards,
Adair

707 wrote:What caused you to look this far down market Adair?

I had to use up a few dollars after returning a more expensive wine, and thought I would give this wine a go as it was being visibly promoted... oh well, I am the sucker this time!!!

Adair

Vin de Pays de l'Aude can actually be very good. A lot of producers have made the decision to produce wines outside the AOC system - ie using different grape varieties etc. When they do that the wine defaults to the vins de pays level, in this case Aude. Often the best wines of a good producer will be vins de pays. It's a bit like the super tuscans.

I have to say though I haven't seen any of the good ones in Australia

Adair wrote:Two Wines Not To Buy:

2003 Vin de Pays d'Aude – Aude, The Midi, France - 11.5%
I forgot the producer but this wine is imported into Australia, so I recommend not buying anything like it. It is terribly sweet with gamay like tutti-fruity characters. Not for my palate but those that enjoy Moselle cask wine might like it. 12.5/20 (Drinkable)

2002 “Dan Murphy’s” Cleanskin Shiraz/Cabernet - Langhorne Creek – 13.5%
A wine of little depth. Some fruitcake Shiraz but predominantly red berries verging on unripe flavours. Balanced oak. Good structure. 13/20 (Drinkable). $6.95

Adair

Did they come from Attila's cellar?

Are you using the full 20-point scale too?

Baby Chickpea wrote:Did they come from Attila's cellar?

Are you using the full 20-point scale too?

Hahaha.

Yes.

Adair