Introductory Remarks:
Darcey and I were very excited to try this wine ever since Gary Vaynerchuk reviewed it favorably on Winelibrary TV (link goes to the video of his review), but especially because of the many mixed responses from all of the good folks who post their opinions on the Winelibrary TV Forums. Evidently many people did not agree with Gary, so, given that Gary has yet to steer Darcey and me wrong, we simply HAD to try this one. What we learned once again is to be grateful that our tastes and palates are right in line with GV; this has made our wine selections nearly impervious to poor bottles (we still like to venture out on our own, of course). We consider ourselves lucky.
On the Nose:
Some nice black pepper immediately apparent, and we are both very happy that it doesn't smell too fruity. Nice nose, big and different, old-world style. Some nice funkiness that I can't quite describe. Darcey says "A barnyard with an orange tree growing in it." Smells kind of like a nice Pinot Noir. Some nice spiciness going on. [Added later: I went back and watched GV's video for this wine: I can't say I smelled the basil, and I wasn't getting that much fruit either, at least not the heavy cherry he describes]. Some orange sherbet, and some other sweetness too, which is nice mixed with the funk.
On the Palate:
After several hours this wine opened up quite nicely to a well-balanced medium- to full-bodied mouthfeel, with OK tannins and a nice dry finish. The palate exhibits that same sense of barnyard and orange as the nose warned of, with some green pepper, black pepper, and a hint of orange sweetness. This wine is a little bit zesty, actually. I sure wish the French would list the varieties and the blends that they contain (some might nowadays, I guess), but I am guessing that this one is mostly Grenache, but I also think it is a blend of other grapes too, perhaps a little bit of Cabernet Franc? [Note added later: Online I learned that the blend breakdown is 65% Grenache, 25% Mourvedre, and 10% Syrah: an interesting blend; we're not too familiar with the Mourvedre grape yet]. This wine is more acidic than tannic, but nicely structured, if leaning more toward medium- than full-bodied, and fairly balanced. At $10 for a French Rhône wine we are extremely pleased with this effort. In fact we have noticed that we really enjoy many wines imported by Eric Solomon, so I'll look out for his name as the importer from now on when I shop for wines. In our opinion this is a terrific old-world styled wine (we just don't feel that fruit-forward that Gary does), and this may be why so many on the WLTV-forums didn't like it, I don't know, but what I do not understand is why all the negative press on those forums for this little gem. This is one to buy and try, and you are only out $10 if you don't like it. A great school-night wine when you just can't bring yourself to open a more expensive bottle.
(Click here for an explanation of our ratings ...)
Our Rating: 89+
Would we drink it again? 
Yes, and hopefully soon.
Would we buy it again?
Darcey in particular asked that we buy this one again; if money were of less consequence than it is right now I would buy a few cases of this baby, but I will at least add a few bottles to my next order.
