2005 Puech Auriol, Côteaux d'Ensérune

Dear Rene, The wine in this email is smokin' -- so good that I have already ordered more! After retasting it to write this email, I immediately got on the phone to wine broker extraordinaire Thomas Calder and ordered more, a lot more. 100 cases just isn't enough...it's that good. I know that once you taste it you'll agree. Little Puech Auriol will blow away most Châteauneuf de Papes four times the price. Don't miss it! Please stop by on Saturday and taste. Our buddy, Aurelio Cabestrero of Grapes of Spain will be here pouring his latest selections from our latest newsletter. You can find it onour new website. Shem and I are off the Italy next week to prowl around Tuscany, Piedmont and Umbria to see what vinous beauties we can find. Have a great weekend and please stop by. Doug Rosen 2005 Puech Auriol, Côteaux d'Ensérune Another in our "Addicted to Quality" Series 2007 Buy these wines by the case... Just wait until you taste the truly wonderful wines in this series of e-mails... I believe these are some of the finest work of my life. Deliciously full of flavor, these wines are extraordinarily complex, packed with soul and are at prices that are insane for the quality. These are the kinds of wines I drink; these are the wines I love; these are the wines I am buying, by the case, for myself... 2005 Puech Auriol, Côteaux d'Ensérune Regularly $19.99 Sale: Buy 6 or more bottles for only $16.99 each Case Special: Only $14.99 each on 12 bottles Very limited (only 100 cases available) We will take a waiting list for the next shipment. No further discounts. Stéphane Yerle and his wife Cécile, both sought-after oenologists, started producing their own wine, Puech Auriol, in 2000.  They work the vineyards of their tiny domaine near Bezieres as if they were tending a garden, using no chemical products, green-harvesting and pulling leaves and by hand.  And it really is a tiny domaine; total vineyard area is under three hectares.  Their small parcels of 75 year-old carignan vines, 55 year-old grenache vines and 35 year-old syrah vines are on hillsides composed of sandy marne and clay limestone containing many fossilized oyster shells (ostrea crassima), hence the seashell graphic on the label. Their Coteaux d'Enserune bottling is 80% carignan and 20% grenache and is a seriously deep and complex wine, a wine you could easily lose yourself in.  There are very few wines from Châteauneuf du Pape with this level of concentration and complexity. There are none at all anywhere near this price. Finds like this are the reason I travel to France so frequently; I'd never have heard of this sitting at home. Stéphane says that his goal is to make wines that recall the taste of great Languedoc,wines of the past, filled with the aromas of Mediterranean fruits and flowers.  This style is getting harder and harder to find today. Many current Languedoc wines are based largely on syrah and can't capture this beautiful flavor profile. Here are my tasting notes: Deep, dark saturated purple color. Wonderful aromatics of blackberries, red licorice and exotic Chinese spices. The palate is mouth-coating and generous with spicy black plums, boysenberries and red hots and a satisfying mineral punch and welcome dusty tannins. This wine will defintley keep you warm and cozy on those cold autumn nights. The picture is an inside joke between Thomas Calder and me. After two weeks on the road, enduring the lousy, unsatisfying, "typical French breakfast," I was dying for some "real food" in the morning. When we pulled into the Yerales' home/winery, I couldn't help but admire the chickens running around their yard. I jokingly said that I was dying for eggs, and Cecile, without missing a beat, asked if I would like some fried eggs. I didn't turn her down and I must say they were great! You might also note the fossilized oyster shell on my notebook. It is one of many from their vineyard and the inspiration for the graphic on the wine label. Arrives tomorrow, October 5th. To order, please call or e-mail us at 703-525-0990. We will need your name, phone number and Visa or MasterCard (with expiration date).