La Prade Mari

This blog won't all be about France, I promise. However I did want to share the best rose I've tried.

It was a very hot, dry day and Nic and I were travelling around the town of Minerve, which produces the appellation Minervois. It was just after one in the afternoon and we realised any cellar door merchants would be closed for lunch. A great habit to have! This is how the French are so relaxed, I believe. We drove into this tiny vineyard and parked next to the cellar door, planning to have a look around. The next thing we knew, this stinky, scruffy guy with messed-up hair, sweating profusely, half asleep, jerks the wooden doors open.

Us: Ahh, hi! Bonjour!
DrunkenFrench Guy: Eeergh? Englese??!
Us: Australian. No Englese *shaking heads and making no no no hand gestures*
Dfg: ah. ughxgsydhfkbl#/^* in French.
Us: ah, *getting visual phasebook* degustation silvuplaayyt?*
Dfg: oui oui le vin!

and he pulled us inside.
We sat at the little bar and did a tasting, sam as anywhere, but with pointing to pictures of fruit in our little book. " le fraise!" "oui, le fraise!" and much smiling.

The vigneron tried to explain his biodynamic principles (fortunately the word is the same in English) and we decided that this wine took its deeper colour from that.

We got a couple of bottles, including this one drunk in 2012: (#the presence of tannin was unusual in a rose but gave the wine some fantastic depth. Yumm.

Domaine LaPrade Mari

AOC Minervois Rose 2011
Syrah 60% Mouvedre 20 % Grenache 20%

Deep red
Clean
On the nose:
strawberry jam
rhubarb
red cherry



palate:
dry
medium to high acid
low tannin#
medium body
red cherry
strawberry jam

slight raspberry