Time to Reserve a place for this star of the show

I’LL not deny I look at that Vivino site the odd time or perhaps slightly more often to see how others rate any particular wine.

But I try to stay strong and buy bottles without so much as a glance so I’m not influenced ahead of that first sip. I’ll have a juke afterwards then and see if my thoughts tally with themuns online.

I must say, they’re a hard bunch to please the ones who fire out stars after a glass or two. There’s not too many four-star wines about that’s for sure.

I was pleased, therefore, when my French go-to region for value and flavour Languedoc came up trumps with a four-star gem which only set me back £11.

This is a wine I’d be happy enough to drink on Christmas Day if you’re in one of those houses with a few guests coming (assuming Omicron allows it) and don’t have the cash to be splashing on three or four bottles of something too fancy.

Languedoc rarely disappoints with its fleshy Syrah and

Grenache dominated wines. But this one was a bit unusual and had me hoking out the Jancis Wine Companion. The relatherefore

tively small appellation of Cabardes which lies to the north of Carcasonne has an unusual geography by the sound of it which means that parts of it, to the west, are planted with more Bordeaux varieties like Cab Sauv, Merlot, Cot (Malbec) and Cab Franc while its eastern bits have more traditional Languedoc varieties. Chateau Ventenac Cabardes La Reserve de Jeanne also had a beautifully simple label which hardly affects the wine inside, but I did find it drew me in. JN Wines, where I got it as part of a delivered case, says the Reserve de Jeanne

contains roughly 40% of the Atlantic varieties and 40% Mediterranean varieties, but the blend varies with the vintage.

The 2015 was a 60/40 Cab Franc/syrah blend according to erobertparker.com but I’m not sure what the 2018 I got was.

I’m guessing it was fairly similar as it certainly didn’t taste like it was Syrah dominated.

Yes, there was a vegetal touch but not the red peppers you’d expect from a Syrah dominated wine, I reckon anyway.

There was sweet stewed fruit yes, but it was a leaner, more medium bodied wine with gorgeous minerality and a developing coffee bean flavour on the finish with a smidgen of tobacco. In simple terms it really, as the area might suggest, offered a bridge between Mediterranean and the Atlanticinfluenced wines.