The Auswine Forum

This was drunk last week, but I thought I'd post it anyway. Here's a picture:



This wine is typically a blend of 65% Grenache, 15% Mourvedre, 15% Syrah, 5% Cinsault and sundry other varietals. The average vine age is about 50 years. The wine is aged for 9-10 months in concrete tanks and then for 8-12 months in 50-70hl foudres. It is bottled without filtration. The nose shows river stones, seeweed, black fruits and metal filings, perhaps a bit stinky, but gorgeously aromatic. The palate shows juicy black and red fruits, pepper, drying leathery tannins, and though it is perhaps a bit bretty, it has the fruit to carry it off. Great length and balance. eBob reports this as 14.8% abv, but the label says otherwise – couldn’t see the alcohol as obtrusive in the wine. And there are those that dislike Vieux Telegraphe for brett etc. – you know who you are. Forget them because they are just plan wrong – this is excellent juice.

Rated : 91 Points
Alcohol : 14.0%
Price : $90
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2006-2012+

I looked at the 2003 of this wine yesterday and loved it:

The Vieux Telegraphe was brilliant. The nose featured ground asian spices, with just a very slight note of dried herbs, dancing with full ripe cherries and blood plums. I'd been careful to spit all 18 wines tasted previously as I was driving home, but at this point my tongue exercised its complete power of veto of my brain. The spicey fruit from the nose now joined by a smokey meatiness that conjoured up trips to the Italian Deli up the road: whole salamis and chunks of prosceutto. The rich mouthfilling fruit ran the whole way down the length of the palate ending in gentle almost caressing tannins.

In my notes I notice I've scribbled down spiced pork. I do this thing where I roll a whole pork fillet in freshly toasted and ground star annise, corriander seeds and black pepper, then cover it in hoi sin sauce to marinate for a few hours before puting it in a hot oven for around 25 minutes leaving it juicey and tender inside its crisp sweet/spicey crust. I'm pretty confident that the Vieux Telegraphe would be pretty damn sensational with this.

I have very little experience with French wines, but I do know that I liked this one a lot. Can you suggest anything else in a similar vein?