Chateau de Lascaux - Les Nobles Pierres

Classification: AOP

Year: 2009

Alcohol: 14.5%

Grapes: 80% Syrah, 20% Grenache

Not only did covid mess up some of my travelling plans this year, covid also pushed out the turnaround (when all or some of the process units come down for heavy maintenance work) at the site I work at from the spring to the summer, so my summer was basically nuked as well. No exotic trips to Calgary, Banff, or Grande Prairie for me. I was also on nightshift for almost two months during this turnaround (didn't have to worry about being in coveralls all the time in +37C weather though), and I conveniently got a bacterial pneumonia infection just before I started nighshift for reasons I don't understand still (fully recovered from that now BTW), so any chance of having some form of a life during this was nuked even further. Where I'm going with all this is that I felt that conquering all of this was a damn good enough excuse to crack open one of my $75 bottles in celebration (that's CAD BTW, so probably about $25 USD). It also seems appropriate to have this as my 30th wine review. Vivino also said this is one of the top 1% wines in the world (pic for proof below). I'll be the judge of that!

The scents to this wine felt quite heavy. There were hints of sweetness, a bit of oakyness, but primarily smoky and even a bit spicy. The broad range of scents gave me a feel of another deeply bodied wine with a wide range of flavours. The wine tasted suprisingly light at first, but then a deep blend of spices kicked in. It didn't feel like I was drowning in spices though; not like drowning in a pool of ghost pepper hot sauce. Flavours of pepper and thyme really stand out. These spices sit on a nice bed of sweeter flavours. Sweetness of black cherries and raspberries, and even a bit of milk chocolate and red liquorice to give it an oaky feel as well but to further enhance the light sweetness that can be distinguished. This one is quite light, and very easy to sip back surprisingly. While this may be on the spicier side for some, I personally find the spicy and sweeter flavours really complement each other and deliver a nice feel in the mouth. It’s surprisingly well balanced. Dare I say one of the most balanced wines I’ve had compared to many others I’ve had during this wine journey. The finish is very easy with no bitter aftertaste. You can still feel the spices linger your mouth afterwards. There is a bit of a smoky feel to this one as a result. In fact, these smoky and spicy notes combined with the sweeter feel makes it feel like you’ve just smoked one of those fruit flavoured cigars. Take that as a positive or negative as you will.

This wine was really good. The flavours were one of the best balanced I"ve had in a wine. Other wines I've had with similar tastes I felt would either sway closer to the sweet or spicy side and ruins the balance a bit. The flavours were quite nice, and the finish is really good. A part of me is struggling to say this is $75 CAD worthy, or if paying the extra $55-60 CAD is worth it when there are other wines that I've even reviewed that are quite similar. The balance to this makes it worth trying if you are a fan of wines of this flavour though, and in my expert connoisseur opinion tops it over those other wines. I'd say go for it if you can spare a few Trudeau Bucks, have enough spare change sitting underneath your mattress, or want to sell your ancient bottle cap/pokemon/pog collection for some actual useful finances to invest with.

Pairings: This would go great with smoked or barbecued meats like steak, ribeye, lamb, or brisket. I drank this on its own at 7:00 AM when I got back from my last shift, and felt good too.

Overall Rating: 4.5 Languedoc Crosses out of 5

Where To Get: I bought this at Wine Cellar, but unfortunately I also can't find this one on liquor connect. I also learnt that Liquor Connect is also updated every 6 months. I'll keep an eye out and add it here when/if I find it.