WTN: Cairanne Réserve des Seigneurs back on form

Domaine Oratoire Saint-Martin - AOC Côtes du Rhone Villages Cairanne - "Réserve des Seigneurs" 2006 - Alc. 14.5% (approx € 11) - made from Grenache 60%, Mourvèdre 30% and Syrah 10%.

Served as an alternative to a rosé (see Open Mike) at a small outdoor luncheon with friends, it quite stole the show and only one bottle of pink was drunk.

After a disappointing 2005 spoiled by reductive aromas, the Alary brothers have once again hit the bullseye with this cuvée.

C: Deep purplish ruby with impressive foam on pouring.
N: Rich dark fruit with a lively tang.
P: Full and quite deep with lovely richness of fruit but made more complex by notes of leather, pepper, herbs and liquorice towards the decently long finish and it wore its alcohol lightly. Drinking beautifully now so that I cannot believe that it will improve but it may hold and show different facets with more time; 16.5/20 +.

I will get some more bottles of this!!

Tim,
That is good news. I liked the 2004 vintage of this back in December and will keep an eye out for the 2006 if/when it appears locally.

Tim....coincidence! Jamie Goode on his blog has a TN on a Cairanne from Domaine Richard. He also features a Pinot Blanc from Luxembourg.

Here is the website for Domaine Oratoire (seem to be quite a range of wines)...>

http://www.oratoiresaintmartin.fr/

IMHO Marcel Richaud and Oratoire Saint-Martin (Alary brothers) are the two best growers in Cairanne out of an overall good bunch. Richaud's wines tend to be more elegant and Alary's bolder. In my last two visits to the area, now nearly 10 years ago, I bought direct from Richaud and excellent the wines were and long since gone. He makes a top cuvée, L'Ebrescade, which is more dense than the one reviewed by Jamie but retains elegance. I hear disturbing reports, however, that he is now taking to new oak.

Richaud's wines are good QPR ex cellars but expensive here. The Importers claim bitterly that Richaud does not give them the usual professional discount and that they pay exactly the same as me when I go to the cellar for one or two dozen bottles or even less. (At Cahors I discovered that a wine retailing there at € 7 was on offer to professionals at € 4 - in Belgium, these would sell that wine to me for about € 10.)