It's quite a mouthful to say the entire name, but this wine was one of the many stars of the 2007 vintage in the Southern Rhone according to Robert Parker, who calls this the vintage of a lifetime in one of my favorite regions. I wasn't familiar with the producer, but with a 91-93 point rating and a price tag under $20, this wine was a definite buy. After waiting a few weeks, I finally decided to crack it open, and wasn't disappointed.
The 2007 Colline St-Jean Vacqueyras Vieilles Vignes is a blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah, which seems to be a perfect ratio as the wine is really very smooth - the Syrah adds a great roundness and some weight to the earthiness of the Grenache. On the second night the wine seemed to offer up even more dark fruit, suggesting that a year or so in bottle may deliver even more. This is not to say that the wine doesn't drink well now - compared to a few of the 2007 Cotes du Rhones I have had, this wine does not show too much heat or acidity at this stage. If you can find this wine, I definitely recommend it as a great value from this vintage.
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