Valentine's Southern French

A short-notice event for those without Valentine’s Day plans. A survey of interesting, characterful wines from the south of France, including an unusual red from Bellet, the wine of the city of Nice. Plus Languedoc, Roussillon, Cahors, and a Rhône white. Paired with Turkish food at Turkuaz in west Midtown, in their atmospheric private wine room downstairs. This is a mixed event, male/female, not limited to the NYCGMWDG. Note later start time, 7:30.

https://www.turkuazrestaurant.com/

2016 Yves Cuilleron Les Potiers St-Péray $30
Vinous 92 – (Raised in oak barrels, none of them new.) Limpid straw-yellow. Fresh pear, Meyer lemon, white flowers and dusty minerals on the highly fragrant, sharply delineated nose. Juicy and energetic in the mouth, offering concentrated yet lithe citrus and orchard fruit and honeysuckle flavors underscored by a vibrant mineral quality. Closes impressively long and pure, featuring resonating stoniness and a touch of bitter citrus pith. 50/50 Marsanne and Roussanne.

2010 Clos St-Vincent Le Clos Bellet $30
Le Guide Bettane et Desseauve des Vins de France 2013 17/20 – Vin puissant, volumineux en bouche, la matière est énorme, il capitalise les qualités de ce grand millésime ici. Comme souvent au domaine, un peu de patience récompensera ceux qui l’auront attendu. (Powerful wine, voluminous in the mouth, the body is huge, it capitalizes on the qualities of the great vintage here. As is often the case with this domaine, a little patience will reward those who wait.) 90% Folle Noire, 10% Grenache.

2014 Château Puech-Haut Bosc Negre Languedoc Saint-Drézéry $30 (reg. $45)
Wine Advocate 92-94 – The 2014 Bosc Negre is the Mourvèdre-dominated wine from Puech Haut and it was raised in 100% new French oak, mostly new Burgundy barrels. It possesses fabulous purity as well as lots of blueberry, blackberry, licorice, crushed rock and peppery herbs. While it was raised in new oak, it’s doesn’t show a hint of it, and offers notable freshness, a big, full-bodied mouthfeel and ripe tannin. It needs 2-3 years of cellaring and will keep through 2029. 80% Mourvèdre, 20% Grenache.

2015 Château de Haute-Serre Géron Dadine Cahors $40
Wine Spectator 90 – A broad, concentrated red, with a silky profile showcasing cherry tart, violet and cola elements flanked by herb, mineral and espresso accents. Supple tannins structure the licorice and sweet spice aromas on the finish. Drink now through 2021. 500 cases made.

Jancis Robinson 16.5/20 – Géron Dadine was a pioneer of vinification in 400l casks on rollers. A Georges Vigouroux wine in an even heavier bottle than most. All Malbec from this property at 300m on clay, with a long maceration and aged for 12 to 18 months in new oak. Bright purple. Nicely integrated nose with lots of pace and freshness but lots of rough tannin too. Some spiciness on the finish.

2017 Château de l’Ou Compartir Côtes du Roussillon Villages $27
Jancis Robinson 17/20 – Grenache, Syrah, and Carignan, certified organic. Brown schist vineyard in Maury. Selected grapes put directly in open-top barrels of 500 litres. Five-week maceration with manual pigeage, then each barrel is emptied and pressed, and the wine returned to the barrel before closing up. Matured for 10 months. So dark it's almost black. Sooty and deeply savoury. Bovril and black-cherry conserve and tar and dark-chocolate-dipped cassia bark. Rich and jewelled and like a dragon in her dark cave breathing fire over her pile of gleaming treasure. Drink by the pipette-ful.

Jeb Dunnuck 96 – A blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Carignan that was brought up in a mix of clay tanks and 500-liter barrels, the 2017 Compartir offers an awesome nose of black raspberries, crushed flowers, exotic spices, and earth, with just hints of subtle background oak. This full-bodied beauty has tons of charm, a layered, seamless texture, and enough structure to keep for upward of a decade. It’s just another brilliant wine from this great winemaker.