Grapelive Wine of the Week
By Kerry Winslow
***
2010 Maxime Francois Laurent “Pourpre” Cotes-du-Rhone, Grenache, France.
With the outrage and buzz dies down about 2010 Bordeaux prices, people are starting to notice Southern France and Spain, where 2010 has delivered amazing Grenache wines, in fact these wines are so pure and vibrant they may eclipse the 2007 and 2009 wines from these regions. The balance and lift is fantastic, and there seems to be huge potential for development and longterm aging, even though it would be very difficult not to drink some of these wines as fast as possible. Maxime Francois Laurent’s wines, made at Domaine Gramenon, are delightful and deeply textured with stunningly purity. The 2010 Cotes-du-Rhones all have amazing fruit and color, making Laurent’s lineup one of the most intriguing and joyful to date. Made from small yields and organic farming, Laurent’s 2010 “Pourpre” is bursting with boysenberry, plum, blueberry and pomegranate fruits, lavender and cracked pepper notes plus tangy fresh acidity. Wild strawberry and mineral flashes come out with air and the nose is fragrant with violets, herbs and hints of fennel and a whiff of game. Both Gramenon and Laurent are imported by Kermit Lynch and have started to become stars of the new generation with a growing fan base here in the States, and while not cheap, these wines do offer a lot for the money once you get past their meager Cotes-du-Rhone labeling, especially these 2010 wines which are by far the best I’ve tried from both Gramenon and Maxine Francois Laurent, check them out when you see them, they are really impressive.
($32 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive
***