Domaine la Tour Vieille, Banyuls 1996

Red.

Discreet nose shows salt water taffy, spicy fig, earth, and sweet prune. Herbs and other interesting stuff with air.

Immediate, intense sweetness/voluptuousness. Just all over the place - sloppy - in the best sense of the term. Retains a nice acid backbone that keeps at least some of the clothing on. Long and reasonably refined. If this doesn't put a smile on your face, you're dead and should be paired with the Cayron Gigondas.


$25? Grenache-based dessert wine fortified on the skins. From a beautiful, rocky region in France just north of the Spanish border.