Domaine Fond Croze Rasteau Vieilles Vignes

Very drinkable: good fruit, some tannins left. Great QPR.

Over the hill unfortunately - tasted oxidized and overly sweet. All structure is gone. Waited too long to drink the last one...lesson for me!

Opaque purple with an inch pour along with purple bubbles. Enticing aromas of raspberry, blueberry, and forest floor. The upfront sip shows concentration, bright acidity, added blackberry, a rich texture, and rounded but still strong tannin. Impressively powerful, well structured, and delicious for a blend of 80% Grenache, 10% Syrah, and 10% Mourvedre. This 7 year old wine is aging beautifully and us highly enjoyable now, with no need to drink up any time soon. A tribute to Fond Croze …

Superb wine. Fruit forward and oh what a wonderful finish. A linger mouthful of pleasure here. QPR is excellent and will surely buy again.

Spicy nose of black plum and pepper. Dusty blackberry fruit with caramel notes. Round tannins expand in the the mouth and add dusty blueberry and saddle leather notes.

Nose of pine and resin. Layers of racy red fruit flavors mixed with minerals and leather. Rolling tannins into the finish with some dried herb and strawberry notes.

Lots and lots of ripe, fresh blackberries. An undercurrent of spice. Significant tannins, but also really nice balance. A long finish. Lovely wine.

This bottle has a balance that the others I've tried have lacked. The fruit, herb, spice balance is spot on and the concentration of fruit and more pronounced tannins with balancing acidity are making my mouth water just thinking about them. Good on its own, but also good with hard, nutty aged cheese.

Big mouthfeel, but really soft tannins. Dried herbs and lots of blackberry. Maybe a touch of sage (on top of generic dried herbs). I like this a lot more than the last bottle. Air really helps. I had it with a tomato sauce, but this would really shine better with roasted or braised beef/lamb.

I need to give this wine another look (I still have three bottles) because I drank this one quickly with good company, so I couldn't concentrate on it, and my perception might be skewed by having such a pleasant evening. That said, the fruit is really concentrated. It seems a tad simple maybe, but that might just be that it needs some air. If I had to guess, I'd say that future bottles will be rated more highly.

Roasted herbs, ripe blackberries, dark cherries, and a Chambord nose. It is ripe, thick, and sweet with echoes of black raspberry on the palate. There is some heat on the finish but it is an enjoyable wine to drink by itself, or with full flavored foods or pizza.

Dark cherries and raspberries followed by smoke, sweet herbs and dried earth. It shows wonderful depth and concentration with beautiful round tannins and a soft, velvety finish that leaves behind a mouthful of dark fruits.