While their 2009 Coteaux du Languedoc Pic Saint-Loup Grande Cuvee – tasted assembled from tank after 18 months in barrel – unfortunately gave a rather stewed-fruit, awkwardly woody, and discordant account of itself, with oak tannin compounding the grape-borne astringency of the vintage; Lancyre’s 2008 Coteaux du Languedoc Pic Saint-Loup Grande Cuvee – incorporating as usual a bit of Mourvedre as well as Grenache with its Syrah, and raised for the first time in half-new demi-muids rather than barriques – is as successful as any installment of this cuvee that I can recall. There is still some extraneous tannin, but the marriage of ripe though tart-edged cherry and black raspberry fruit with spice, caramel, and toast from barrel is not inharmonious; while leather and roasted red meat elements offer some depth and the finish harbors invigoration and cut if no enormous reservoir of juiciness. I would plan on enjoying this within the next couple of years. (The point of using the larger barrels is, notes Valentin – not that I had any doubt – to enhance fruit and freshness while diminishing the flavors of toasted wood. I applaud the sentiment, but as the 2009 shows, he isn’t there yet, and without going into detail I think the choice of tonneliers is not doing these wines any favor.) Regis Valentin once again displayed many successes across a stylistically diverse range. The 2009s here are however mildly disappointing – a circumstance not unfamiliar from Pic Saint-Loup – especially when directly compared with results from 2008, whose October harvest of Syrah, incidentally, was the latest in the estate’s history. As so often, though, 2010 is especially exciting, and the young reds from this vintage were already too deliciously expressive for me to resist publishing notes. Re-tasting the 2007 reds – on which I had last reported before bottling in issue 183 – they remain impressive (with the exception of the Grande Cuvee, now performing on the lower side of my pre-bottling projection), although their bitter elements and tannin were somewhat enhanced, and I re-rated both the Coste d’Aleyrac and Vieilles Vignes 90 points. Valentin graciously consented on this occasion to my request to taste some older vintages of his Roussanne – bottles of which I was thrilled to discover that he indeed cellars, and that you and I should, too!Imported by Handpicked Selections, Warrenton, VA; tel. (540) 347 9400
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