La Baronne (Famille Ligneres) Les Chemins

宝妮酒庄光明红葡萄酒

The Ligneres- 2007 Les Chemins is raised in tank from Carignan, Cinsault, and Grenache. Intensely redolent of fresh blackberry, with cocoa powder, soy, crushed stone, and distilled cherry and blackberry; this youthfully slightly reductive wine is at least as aggressively pungent on the palate, with salted blackberry and an impression of blackberry seeds and chili paste; and finishes with tart blackberry, sizzling pungency, and a hint of heat not such as comes from alcohol, but rather from chili peppers. The effect is striking, although one's palate dries out just slightly. Still, as a slightly rustic but memorable expression of Carignan and Cinsault, and paired in the right way, it will offer considerable enjoyment over the next 12-18 months. In the almost perpetually breezy foothills of the Alaric Mountains, the Ligneres family farms more than 200 acres of geologically diverse slopes and terraces. Their wines were formerly quite distinctively labeled under their name, and now bear a uniform label inscribed -La Baronne- (for their Chateau), although for the most part the cuvee names remain unchanged. This is a family-operated estate, although interestingly, the five principles represent two general practitioners, a dentist, a pharmacist, and a biologist, and employ a Tuscan oenological consultant, Stefano Chioccioli. While within the Corbieres region, they bottle all of their wines as vins de pays. I confine my notes to those wines currently on offer in the U.S.Importer: Jackson Family Wines, Santa Rosa, CA; tel. (707) 544 4000