This is a wine that I recently bought at the new Salem Wine Imports. I enjoy Rhone wines and feel you can find some excellent values there. Domaine Catherine Le Goeuil is located in the small village of Cairanne in the heart of the southern Rhône. Most of the vines at this vineyard are over 40 years old. They use all organic methods, and possibly some biodynamic aspects as well. One of their goals is also to make low yielding vines to ensure the high quality and concentration of fruit. Many people feel these wines are very expressive of terroir.
The 2005 Domaine Catherine Le Goeuil Cairanne Cuvee Lea Felsch ($19.99) appears to be a blend of Carignan, Cinsault, Counoise, Grenache, Mourvedre, and Syrah. The wine was a dark red in color with a nose of berries and a touch of earthiness. It was a full-bodied wine with ripe red berry flavors atop a spicy foundation. There was a bit of that earthiness as well. The tannins were noticeable but not over powering. It had a fairly long finish with a bit of tartness on the end.
This was an interesting Rhone, more Old World in style and would be a good food wine. It actually got better over the course of the evening and maybe a bit of decanting might be in order. I definitely enjoyed the wine and would recommend it as a Drink & Buy.
I drank this wine a couple of years ago, and found it to have most of the qualities that you described here.
ReplyDeleteRecently, though, at Whole Foods in Tampa, I saw this wine, without any price. They could not get it to scan, and settled on $13.99 for my one bottle price. Anyway, the wine is even better now! The store, in the meantime, has pulled all the bottles off the rack.