On May 19, 3:26�pm, DaleW > wrote:
> Couple �of wines tasted over last 4 days:
>
> 2007 Ch. de Roquefort "Corail" ros� (Cotes de Provence)
> This was with some ham and a mixture of beet greens and broccoli rabe.
> Strawberries and cherries marinated in citrus. Good acidity, a
> pleasing bitter note in background, very tasty. On days 2 & 3 the
> citrus/bitter had faded, but still a tasty simple ros�. �Label says
> Grenache, Styrah, Cinsault, Carignan, Vermentino. & Clairette. B/B+
> �
> 2006 St Cosme Cotes du Rhone
> This was with a lamb chop. Good body for a CdR, a peppery note over
> fairly dense dark berry fruit. Some tannins, ok length. Holds up well
> overnight. Not running out for more, but might pick up if I wanted to
> fill a case, and it's got enough body to last for a while. B
> �
> Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent
> wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't
> drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no
> promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

Is it me or has the nature of Cotes du Rhone fundimentally changed in
the past few years? It seems that every CdR that I've had in the past
3-4 years has been fairly dark and dense and even a bit jammy. I've
just had the '02, '03 and '05 St Cosme and found them all to be dark
berry jammy full bodied wines yet early vintages such as '95, '96 and
'99 showed a lighter more balanced and restrained "French style" wine.