Each week I pick out one wine to highlight as my wine of the week. This wine may be an outstanding wine, a great value or just something very interesting.

Overview

I saw this one on the shelf at the local Costco. Since it was a new arrival and was just getting loaded on the shelf, there was no “shelf talker” of any kind available. Based on the region, the importer and the price, I felt it was worth grabbing a couple bottles.

The Winery

In 2000, Gerard Bru sold his business and planted vineyards on the foothills of the Cevennes, an area he knew well because as a little boy he spent his youth there hunting and working with his grandfather in local vineyards. There was not a single vine in the soil until Bru planted one but he was convinced that the terroir, covered in olive trees and wild herbs, would be conducive to spectacular wines.

Today, Château Puech-Haut occupies 170 hectares including 100 hectares of vines in Saint-Drézéry, a small village 15 km northeast of Montpellier, in the foothills of the Cevennes and belongs to the AOC Coteause du Langedoc. In Provence, a “Puech” means a small hill (or mountain), a “Puech-Haut” is a hill higher than the others. This position, “on a hill higher than the others”, is conducive to exceptional drainage for the vineyards. The clay and limestone soil is composed of boulders brought by the Rhone in the Quaternary and its plots reside on hillsides protected from excessive temperatures by the nearby Mediterranean Sea and winds including the Mistral, the north wine pervasive in the region.

More information on the winery (in French) is available on their site by clicking here.

2011 Château Puech-Haut Coteaux du Languedoc Saint-Drézéry Prestige – $15.99

This wine is a custom cuvee produced by Château Puech-Haut, Philippe Cambie and Eric Soloman, exclusively for the United States. This is a blend of 55% Grenache from 60 to 75 year old vines and 45% Syrah from 40 year old vines. After fermentation, the wine was aged in concrete vats.

This has 15.0% alcohol by volume and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork.

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep, dark maroon color. The very open and giving nose is full of black raspberries, chalky minerals, potpourri, cherries, earthy underbrush, pencil shavings and dried herbs. This has a fairly full body with moderate to solid tannins and good acidity. Chalky minerals and berries immediately coat the palate, slowly allowing dried herbs, pencil shavings and dried herbs to slip in. The long finish adds a nice dried floral note. This does show just a touch of alcohol on the finish but that is a minor quibble. (91 pts)

2011 Château Puech-Haut Coteaux du Languedoc Saint-Drézéry Prestige

Closing thoughts

If your local Costco or wine store has this wine, I highly recommend grabbing a bottle or two.

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Notes – I use the “official” Cellar Tracker name for the wines. I use Cellar Tracker to help manage and organize my cellar. I highly recommend checking it out at www.cellartracker.com. Loading you existing cellar is a lot less intimidating than it would first appear. There is a good chance 99% of your wine is already in the system, so you generally only need to enter part of the wine’s name and the system will find it for you.

Prices noted are the prices I paid at the time of purchase. I don’t shop around to find the best prices, but my local store is usually VERY competitive. I generally get case discounts, and since I work there part time, I get a 5% discount. Wines purchased direct from a winery do not include any shipping charges. None of the prices include the sales tax.

All wines that were sent to me free of charge to sample will be noted and I will show suggested prices when available.