WineLife365

From: France

Price: $12.99

After experiencing a stream of “lab rat” red wine concoctions from California so far this year, I thought that it was time to get away from the US and taste some French red wines to see if they were any better.  I grabbed a bottle of this French Rhone blend in the hopes of finding a solid, old world style red wine that would excite me. 

Unfortunately, this French country wine or “Vin De Pays” did nothing to restore my confidence that a great tasting red wine under $15 bucks could be found, if you were willing to look for it. 

I found this red Rhone blend of 50% Grenache, 35% Syrah, 10% Carignan, and 5% Merlot grapes to be rather boring.  In my opinion, the fruit lacked the spiciness and richness of other red wines that I’ve experienced from this neck of the woods in the past.  Additionally, the label on this wine indicates that it has an alcohol content of 13% – and believe me you can taste it.  Finally, the herbal flavors that also characterize wines from this French region were also rather subdued and bland tasting to me.

All in all, I found the 2004 Montirius “Le Cadet” just to be pleasant, but rather uninspiring.  I did however appreciate that it tasted like a “real” wine and not manufactured.

I give it 2 Stars – there’s just not enough flavors popping to warrant a 3 Star rating.

WineLife365 Rating: 2-Star