The 2006 Collioure Puig Ambeille offers a manifestation of Mourvedre so red-blooded that vegetarians may want to avoid it. This is accompanied by bitter dark chocolate, bay laurel, and juniper berry, and wreathed in wood smoke. While formidably concentrated, this firmly tannic cuvee lacks the alluring savor of its 2007 counterpart and prefers to remain uncompromisingly carnal and pungently fruit skin- and herb-dominated all the way through its long finish, even when tasted from a bottle that had been decanted overnight. Sock this away for another couple of years and then – if my intuitions are valid – expect it to reach age ten with lots still to say for itself. Campadieu and Cantie’s sweet fortified sweet wines can be fascinating, although I have thus far not witnessed them reaching the same heights as the couple’s Collioures.
Christine Campadieu and Vincent Cantie operate from an expansive but unromantic modern facility that they built in 2001 above Collioure (new stainless steel tanks having been installed for the 2009 harvest). The view from their cuverie – overlooking ancient Collioure (site of their ancient press house) and dramatically terraced vineyards plunging into the rocky surf – is another matter. If I had my desk there I would have trouble concentrating on work! The outlook was very different when they began just over a quarter of a century ago, they say, as the majority of terraces above this picturesque fishing village had been abandoned, demand for sweet fortified wine was plummeting, and the reputation for dry wine – the Collioure appellation having only been created in 1971 – was undeveloped. (Banyuls and Collioure occupy the same acreage affiliated with four coastal towns.)
Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524
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