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Gerard Bertrand Languedoc Syrah/Grenache 2014

This blog has been stuck in the south of France lately and my plan was to move on.  Then I found one more French wine on my last trip to Costco that I had to try.  I promise that my next blog will be about a wine from Italy or North America.

Languedoc-Roussillon is near the Mediterranean coast from the western edge of the Rhone region to the border with Spain.  This region is the largest wine grape producer in France but is not that well known in North America.  A wide variety of grapes are grown including red Bordeaux grapes and especially red Rhone varietals.  Languedoc has a history of prioritizing quantity over quality but that is rapidly changing and Gerard Bertrand is one of the leaders of that change. 

Gerard Bertrand Languedoc features Rhone varietals Syrah and Grenache.  Most Rhone wines emphasize the Grenache grape but this wine features Syrah with Grenache playing a backup role.  The producer does not show the grape percentages on the bottle or on their website, but you can taste the difference.  This wine is slightly more heavy-bodied with flavors of plum and a peppery finish.  The wine was aged 10 months in oak and has an alcohol content of 13.5%.

I like this wine and found it a nice variation from the Rhone wines I recently have been drinking.

SC Wine Joe rating = 89 points




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