Preignes Petit Verdot 2005

We're down in Devon at the moment visiting my brother-in-law's family. We are all wine lovers, and it's turning into a ritual to visit the local Majestic whenever we get together. I had a few ideas in mind as to what to buy this time, but some others were spontaneous purchases.

This was one of that spontaneous purchases - mainly because of the Decanter World Wine Awards Gold Medal sticker on it. I'm glad I bought it. It has a highly perfumed nose, and lovely tannic grip, just like a good Bordeaux (it is a Bordeaux blending grape, after all). Really impressive, especially for this price range. It's a late-ripening grape, and perhaps is better suited to warmer weather regions than Bordeaux?

I probably shouldn't mention this, but we had this bottle open along with a bottle of Paul Mas Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, and I decided to mix them together in a glass. The result was pretty good - better than the sum of the parts. Why bother with single varietals when blending gives a much better, rounded experience? Is it just to appeal to drinkers of new world plonk?

Preignes

Petit Verdot 2005

Languedoc, VdP d'Oc, France

Majestic

£6.99

4/5