Chateau La Dournie - Saint-Chinian Etienne

chrislanguedoc
May 22, 2020
2 min read

Updated: Jul 2, 2020

Classification: AOP

Year: 2016

Alcohol: 13.5%

Grapes: 60% Syrah. 25% Grenache, 15% Carignan

The scents to this wine were quite interesting when i opened it. There were light hints of sweetness and oaky-ness, but the scents were primary peppery and spicy. I had a hunch that this would be a somewhat spicier wine. The initial tastes to this wine were definitely a bit on the spicy side. Flavours such as pepper, tobacco, and hints of rosemary and thyme seemed to hijack my taste buds. I know i tend to use the word "pepper" a lot, in fact I think I've used that word in almost all of my reviews, but this one is definitely quite peppery and i cannot think of another word to describe it. There are some other less spicy notes that can be made after the spicy flavours simmer. Tastes of black/dark fruits such as blueberry and blackberry, and earthy and oaky flavours such as chocolate, coffee, and liquorice can be made at the tail end as well. While the body of this wine is perhaps a bit more on the peppery and spicy side, these other sweeter flavours help balance the spicyness to this wine. At the end, the spicy and peppery tastes eventually simmer into a nice smoky finish. It feels/tastes like a nice campfire in your mouth from start to end; especially at the end.

While most red wines I've had tend to be sweet and then a bit spicy, this one feels quite the opposite. Not saying that's a bad thing; if anything it’s a nice change, It’s not scorching hot or spicy like chugging ghost pepper hot sauce, but there’s a nice kick to this wine with the peppery feel. That said, this wine may be a bit too peppery or spicy for some. It’s not the sweetest wine I’ve had, and is perhaps one of the most spicy and peppery wines I’ve had during this journey. I’m not sure this is one I’d have all the time, but it was a nice change.

Pairings: The peppery body of this wine would go really good with spicy food or BBQ. In fact one of the official recommendations was BBQ'd ribs. That's what I had with this, and had zero complaints (other than i may have burnt the bottom of the ribs in the BBQ a bit while I was writing some notes on this wine for this review)