Chateau La Dournie - Saint Chinian

Classification: AOP

Year: 2016

Alcohol: 13.5%

Grapes: 50% Syrah, 25% Carignan, 25% Grenache

The scents to this wine consisted primarily of sweet red and dark berries. There was a touch of oakyness too, but primarily dominant scents of berries to the nose. Upon tasting, there's definitely an explosion of sweet berries at the forefront. Cherry, raspberry, blackberry, and a hint of blueberry will proudly take over your tastebuds. Sightly acidic at the forefront, but not overpoweringly acidic. After the sweetness blends in your mouth, you can feel some distinct flavours of chocolate, mocha, and coffee as well, although they're not too strong or overpowering. The body of this is fairly light for a red. The flavours flow quite nicely in this wine; from the sweet notes at first to the oaky notes at the end (FYI chocolate, mocha, and coffee are considered oaky notes). Despite the swift change, the flavours don’t feel like they’re trying to compete against each other; they’re just going with the flow. They don’t feel that distinct or powerful, but it allows you to appreciate the range of tastes I find. The finish is slightly on the dry. The aftertaste primarily consists of those chocolate, mocha, and coffee notes tasted. It almost feels like finishing a cup of coffee, but the tastes don’t linger in your mouth for too long.

This one was fairly decent. There's a nice broad range of flavours, but they complement each other quite well versus try and compete with each other. While it's not as much on the sweet side and more on the earthy/oaky side for my tastes, there's still lots to enjoy with this one. Those who enjoy a sweeter red may not enjoy this one, but I'd gladly recommend this one to enjoy a slightly sweet wine with some other flavourful notes to be had too.

Pairings: The earthy notes in this wine would go great with some grilled red meats like pork tenderloin. Even some mildly spicy foods would go great with this wine too.

Overall Rating: 3.5 Languedoc Crosses out of 5

Where to Get: https://www.liquorconnect.com/Products/Stores/812061