It was Andrew over at www.spittoon.biz who reminded me of the wines of the Grassa family at Domaine du Tariquet from Gascony in South West France.
I admit to having been a little snooty about Tariquet - I am generally somewhat suspicious and dismissive of big wine companies (with a few honourable exceptions), prefering the more romantic concept of small independent wine makers and their families crafting their wines with great care and personal attention to every stage from grape to bottle. And Tariquet is BIG - the largest independent vineyard in France based in Eauze (32 Gers, Midi-Pyrenees).
My other prejudice arose from tasting one of their hallmarked wines - an oaked white called "les 4", an oaked blend which I felt was too "New World" with too much oak dominating the freshness and fruitiness of the wine.
So prompted by Andrew's posting I revisited some of the Tariquet wines - and was pleasantly impressed with the quality - the Tariquet Rosé (a blend of merlot, syrah and the local tannat) was particularly impressive - the syrah adding real depth of flavour making it an excellent summer wine but equally well-capable of providing an excellent companion for roast lamb.
Maïté Dubuc-Grassa and her brother Yves Grassa (Winemaker of the year IWC 1987) have in their twenty years of activity become leading French wine makers: they grow 900 hectares (2224 acres) of vines (making them the largest independent vineyard in France) which produce 7 million bottles of wine to be sold in more than 45 countries around the world.The Famille Grassa signature style relies on the winemaker capturing the first aromas of the grape, a process which involves meticulous care at every stage. Using state-of-the-art technology and facilities (Tariquet owns the largest pressing room in Europe), Yves Grassa has created a fine, unique and fruity style of wine that bears the Tariquet signature and corresponds perfectly to the taste of today's consumer.
In the UK Advintage Wines stocks wines from Tariquet including the Rosé at £5,00 per bottle ("The palate shows a lovely combination of wild raspberry and flowers, but full-bodied at the same time. Excellent with tapas, summer dishes, Italian food as well as spicy dishes"(
For more info see www.tariquet.com/
Advintage Wines
