Great Wines of France Box
For this box, we wanted to pay homage to the country whose wines the whole world envies: France!
We have therefore selected four wines which demonstrate the diversity of its terroirs, with very different colors, climates and taste profiles. Health !
Château de Saint-Martin Grande Réserve
- Estate and name of the wine: Château de Saint-Martin Grande Réserve
- Appellation: Côtes de Provence Cru Classé
- Region: France, Provence, Côtes de Provence
- Grape varieties: Grenache, Tibouren, Cinsault, Carignan, Syrah
- Vintage: 2021
- Coat color: Rosé - Rosé wine with a peach color with golden highlights.
- Intensity of color: Clear and limpid color, quite brilliant.
Fine and delicious nose. First scents focused on violet, jasmine, rose petals but also with notes of ripe vine peach, lychee and mango. An elegant nose.
- Body: 2/6 - Soft
- Tannins: 0/6 - Absent
- Sugar: 0/6 - Very dry
- Acidity: 4/6 - Lively
- Alcohol: 2/6 - Discreet (12.5%)
- Length in the mouth: 4/6 - Rather long (7-8 sec)
A palate of old rose and blood orange in the second taste. A velvety rosé wine with very good length, a gastronomic wine, ideal for summer meals.
To accompany Provençal sea bream, one-sided salmon, duck breast with cherry compote, or even quail stuffed with grapes.
Hauts d’Artigny Plou & Fils
- Domain and name of the wine: Domaine Plou & Fils, Cuvée Les Hauts d’Artigny Chenin sec
- Appellation: Touraine-Amboise
- Region: France, Loire Valley, Touraine-Amboise
- Grape varieties: Chenin Blanc
- Vintage: 2021
- Color of the coat: White - The coat is golden, light with green highlights.
- Intensity of color: Beautiful shine, limpid.
A mineral, almost earthy nose. Lots of vegetal notes, very fresh. A scent of morning rosé.
- Body: 2/6 - Soft
- Tannins: 0/6 - Absent
- Sugar: 0/6 - Very dry
- Acidity: 5/6 - Pointed
- Alcohol: 3/6 - Generous (13.5%)
- Length in the mouth: 3/6 - Medium (5-6 sec)
The tasting is rich, with lots of volume and fat, its viscosity promises a nice length in the mouth, dominated by aromas of citrus and exotic fruits.
Grilled or steamed fish (fish from the turbot and sole family are most suitable), mild and soft cheese...
Château Saint-Roch
- Domain and name of the wine: Châteauneuf-du-Pape from Château Saint-Roch
- Appellation: Châteauneuf-du-Pape
- Region: France, Rhône Valley, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
- Grape varieties: Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre
- Vintage: 2020
- Coat color: Red - Deep purple color with purple reflections.
- Color intensity: Beautiful shine, rather intense color.
A nose which reveals notes of black fruits, jam, “pigeon heart” cherry flesh, kirsch, liquorice and spices.
- Body: 5/6 - Powerful
- Tannins: 3/6 - Silky
- Sugar: 0/6 - Very dry
- Acidity: 3/6 - Fresh
- Alcohol: 4/6 - Warm (14%)
- Length in the mouth: 4/6 - Rather long (7-8 sec)
The mouth is full and delicious, the tannins are tight, dense and velvety.
Lamb ribs, Provençal stew, puréed sausage...
Château Valade Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
- Domain and name of the wine: Château Valade Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
- Appellation: Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
- Region: France, Bordeaux, Libourne, Saint-Émilion
- Grape varieties: Cabernet Franc, Merlot
- Vintage: 2019
- Color of the coat: Red - A dark red color, with purple highlights, typical of Saint-Emilion.
- Color intensity: Beautiful shine, beautiful intensity.
A very concentrated nose, notes of blackcurrant, cocoa, an empyreumatic side with notes of cedar, tobacco, and vanilla. A second nose with light aromas of mint.
- Body: 5/6 - Powerful
- Tannins: 4/6 - Firm
- Sugar: 0/6 - Very dry
- Acidity: 3/6 - Fresh
- Alcohol: 4/6 - Warm (14.5%)
- Length in the mouth: 6/6 - Very long (>10 sec)
The wine shows with its roundness, a tonic mouth. Fruit, tannins present but of good quality, with a cocoa finish. The whole thing is very elegant, of remarkable finesse, and does not lack personality.
Delicious with roast duck, tournedos (Rossini) or mature Comté...
Calculate your score:
You like wine but wine doesn't like you. No matter how much you smell the corks to detect possible defects, you only smell the smell of cork. You observe but see nothing, you smell but smell nothing, you chew but taste nothing… Is rosé a mixture of red and white? There is still a long way to go but you will get there with practice and tasting!
It's not the desire to become a true tasting master that you lack, but the training. You aspire to be a sommelier, there is no doubt about it, but your senses are not yet sharp enough and all wines have a similar taste. But don't despair: if Bach was able to become a musical virtuoso while being deaf, there is hope that you will one day be able to tell a chardonnay from a champagne. Train your nostrils and your taste buds, that's the only thing!
You may be spending too much time deciphering the label and not enough analyzing the contents of your INAO glass. But you have a taste for adventure: you are curious about everything and you explore the vine jungle with a machete without fear. You mess up, you get lost, you fall but you always get back up. You have the enthusiasm of a future oenologist: don't despair, you are on the right wine route!
You are an initiate of the order of good bottles. If you are not yet a great master of taste-vinage, you have the discipline and curiosity necessary to achieve it. If you can't yet distinguish the subtle notes of yuzu at the end of the second nose of a small, obscure wine with heightened minerality, you know with certainty what you like and what you don't like, and that's already a lot !
The precision of your tasting is almost witchcraft. It’s like you fell into an oak barrel when you were little! You simply excel in the art of oenology, you are familiar with the most advanced techniques and your senses are as sharp as those of a professional sommelier. You're pretty good, to say the least... The path to absolute grace is not far away!
You are the Mozart of tasting, the Picasso of the Pommerol cellars, the Einstein of the Savagnin old and Comté accord 36 months of maturing with grains of salt! At a glance, you can distinguish Mourvèdre from Tannat. The subtlety of your senses has risen to the rank of divinity: you discern the most incongruous aromas in a few seconds in any bottle. You have passed to the other side of the barrier: you no longer taste the wine, you write its destiny.
The connoisseurs' corner
The caudalie is the unit of time used by oenologists to measure the persistence in the mouth of a wine.
For example, if we still perceive the aromas of the wine 6 seconds after having swallowed it (or spit it out), then the wine will count 6 caudalies. Can you count the caudalies of the wines in this box?