Grandes Vallées - Pinot Noir

Classification: IGP

Year: 2018

Alcohol: 13%

Grapes: 100% Pinot Noir

I bought this wine solely because of the label. It’s not crude, inappropriate, or anything like that. It has the medieval fortified city of Carcassonne on the front. If castles make you wet or give you a massive hard on, you need to visit Carcassonne (or if you have a Disney fetish because Carcassonne was reportedly an influence to Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland). It is frickin gorgeous. Go ahead and look up images of it on Google... they won’t do the place justice. You need to go there and experience it in person. Nuts to Paris; many of the locals I spoke to in Montpellier, Carcassonne, Nimes, and Sete said Paris is insanely overrated. Go explore the countryside of France if you really want to experience the culture and beauty. In fact, do that with any country you visit. The main or capital cities are generally way too touristy and suck out the culture and diminish the experience.

Ahem... pardon me... let’s talk about the wine now...

You will get a decently bold scent of cherries when you open this bottle. Other sweet red fruits like raspberries can be picked out too. Those scents will not deceive you, as that is what you will taste when you casually finish your first or seventh glass of it. You can definitely taste the tartness of said flavours, but it’s not overpoweringly tart. The flavours are not that deep or distinct, but there is an easiness and smoothness to this wine that the youngest of wine connoisseurs (such as not myself) can really enjoy. The finish to this wine is perhaps a bit on the dry side, but nowhere as dry as licking 10 grit sand paper (again... do not recommend...). Although this may be a tad on the “too sweet” at the forefront or “too dry” at the end for some, I find there’s still a decent balance throughout that gives a fairly smooth experience from start to finish.

This certainly isn’t the most complex wine I’ve had, but I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing. In my somewhat growing experienced opinion, this is a fairly decent “middle of the road” wine the Languedoc region is known for. Although it’s perhaps a tad too dry at the end for my tastes, there is still enough of a decent taste to enjoy, and it’s easy enough to pound back. I personally haven’t tried enough Pinot Noirs to really say this is the finest of Pinot Noirs, but I would not hesitate to recommend trying this one if you are a Pinot Noir fan and see for yourself. This is one I’d gladly buy again.

Pairings: Poultry and salads are what’s officially recommended on the bottle itself. I personally found these quite enjoyable with my hot dog cooker grilled bacon & pepperoni pizza pops.

I should probably give that thing a clean now... I could taste a bit of all last month's worth of cooking I've done on that thing on the pizza pops.

Overall Rating: 3 Languedoc Crosses out of 5

Where To Get: https://www.liquorconnect.com/Products/Stores/767546

I’ve seen this one at many Wine and Beyond and Liquor Depots (or Ace Liquor I guess they’re called now). Liquor connect basically lists all of the Wine, Liquor Depots, and Ace Liquors in the province.