France, Rhone Valley, Grand Reserve Cairanne, 2005,

Name: Grande Reserve Cairanne, A.O.C Côtes du Rhône" denomination
Country: France
Region: Rhone Valley
Grape(s): Grenache white, Clairette white, Marsanne white, Roussanne white, Bourboulenc white, Viognier white, other white grape varieties tolerated 20% maximum.
Vintage: 2005
Notes: Remember that French Wine go by region so Cairanne is a region of the Rhony Valley
Colour: Gold
Smell: Lots of citrus based flavours. I could smell, green apples, gooseberries with hints of grapefruit and a wiff of pineapple just underneath. This was a very light scent and not very pronounced.
Taste: Off dry heading down the road to medium, low acidity. Unexpected different taste to the scent was more floral in nature. Wasn’t a very exciting blend it felt kind of flat in the mouth and didn’t have many high or low notes which would interest me.
Food ate with wine: WE had chicken with a slight Bbq flavour, I added sprinkles of Tabasco sauce to the chicken to give it a kick and that really went well this is wine. My other suggestion for food would have been a nice light flavoured white fish. Hammour I think would work well here with a lemon based sauce.
Conclusion: An acceptable wine.
WINEDEX: 5 out of 10
Final comments: It’s a blend – I am not familiar with all these different grapes apart from the Grenache so I am not in a position say if this is a good blend of these grapes or not. However, I can comment on taste which is probably more important. Personally I thought this was ok…but it didn’t really inspire me. Dad, on the other hand thought this was an excellent wine and commented that this would be a nice drink to have on its own while watching the footy. I thought the wine was bland on its own however with the combination of BBQ chicken and Tabasco it did lift up a bit more.