2010 Côtes du Roussillon Villages

The 2010 Cotes du Roussillon Villages Le Clos des Fees – as usual, from roughly equal parts Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, and Carignan – was raised in around 60% new and the rest once-used barrels. (The percentage of new wood has in the past been higher.) Caramelized resin and toast character on nose as well as palate; a slight drying and dulling of black raspberry and plum fruit; and a bit of gum-numbing tannin are nonetheless all elements in which oak is implicated. Attractive hints of cocoa powder and licorice add interest here and there is certainly impressive sheer ripeness, but this lacks the primary juiciness not to mention the salinity of the corresponding “Vieilles Vignes” bottling. Perhaps something about Bizeul’s choice of barrels rather than sheer percentage of new wood or utilization of barriques results in the characteristics that I perceive as drawbacks. I would monitor this carefully if planning to hold, but I won’t try to project a certain number of years of vigor, and indeed I’ll remain hopeful that the aforementioned dulling and numbing prove to be temporarily. Herve Bizeul professed to have experienced good yields and fruit quality in both 2011 and 2012, when he managed to escape hail. I tasted only those 2012s that had already been bottled as of this spring; and I did not taste any recent installments of his limited bottlings featuring Tempranillo or Syrah. (Bizeul continues to be responsible for the Walden brand as well as for Domaine de la Chique, both of whose most recent instantiations are reviewed under their own names as part of the present report.) Importers include Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799; Simon N Cellars, Charlottesville, VA; tel. (434) 977-4476; and M. S. Walker, Somerville, MA; tel. (617) 776-6700