A great honor for La Grange: we received 94 Parker points for our Castalides Icône and Édition and 89 Parker points for our Castalides Réserve.
Parker points are the oscars of the wine world! A winemaker can hardly ask for more. The only drop of bitterness: We only have very few bottles left.
And these are our winners:
Castalides Icône: The 2011 Languedoc Caslides Icône’s inky purple color is followed by fabulous aromas and flavors of creme de cassis, blackberry, melted licorice, toast and hints of chocolate. Made from 70% Syrah and 30% Mourvedre that spent 18 months in new French oak, it’s a full-bodied, layered and seamless effort that has no hard edges, but awesome purity and blockbuster length. Give it another year to integrate its oak, and plan on drinking bottles through 2021. Created in 2007 by Renate and Rolf Freund, Domaine La Grange is located to the west of Montpellier and covers roughly 30 hectares, with the wines made by oenologist Jean Natoli. My first opportunity to taste these wines, I was blown away by their two 2011s, and across the board, the wines showed thrilling richness and depth, yet were always balanced and seamless. The domaine does like to use a healthy dose of new oak, yet it was balanced nicely by ample fruit and was always well-integrated.
Castalides Édition: With more garrigue, underbrush and spice, as well as brilliant creme de cassis and assorted berry fruit, the 2011 Languedoc Caslides Édition (50% Grenache and 50% Syrah aged 12 months in 80% new oak) is full-bodied, seamless and layered on the palate, with a weightless, elegant profile. It is a rock star effort to drink over the coming 7-8 years.
Castalides Réserve: A blend of equal parts Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre, the 2012 Languedoc Castalides Réserve gives up pretty red berry fruit, garrigue and underbrush-like aromas and flavors in an elegant, classy and balanced package. Showing the elegance of the estate, it’s up-front and ready to go, yet should also evolve gracefully for 4-5 years.
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