I am a big fan of the Mourvedre varietal and I feel that the Bandol region of France makes some excellent wines from this grape. I recently tasted the 2004 Le Galantin ($20) from the Bandol region. This wine is about 70-75% Mourvedre with percentages of Grenache and Cinsault. I was not impressed with this wine. It is full bodied with a strong earthiness that seems to overshadow the dark berry flavors. The finish was medium lengthy but not really satisfying as their was a tinge of bitterness. I did let this sit out for a time to see if it would mellow but a few hours did not change anything. I then tried it with some steak which helped the situation but it still did not elevate this to a good wine. At $20, I would rather spend another $5-10 and get a much better Bandol wine. This is a no Drink, no Buy.
Instead of this Bandol wine, look for Domaine Tempier!
Wow, Gary V, raved about this wine yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of this wine, particularly for the earthiness. I could understand that this might not be someone's preference, but I don't think it's a reason to call the wine bad. Frankly, I think of Le Galantin as adult wine, specifically because it doesn't overdue the fruit.
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