As promised here is a review of one of the bottles I purchased as part of a bulk blind buying exercise for a party. The bottle itself is from Corbieres, an appellation in the Languedoc-Rousillon area in South France. It has a serious looking label and a glaring gold medal stuck on the neck so you are in no doubt that it has an award for something. At £4.99 from Majestic it seemed like a bargain.

It was in fact awarded gold in the Decanter Wine Awards in 2009. So in my opinion was all of this very public praise spot on, or lacking?

Wine descriptions can be pretty odd, confused and off-putting whilst trying to portray the opposite, and this is a case in point -

Decanter says - "(Gold Medal) A wine with real punch and personality. Cherries, pepper, black olive, coffee, elegant minerality, with pleasingly rustic tannins and attractive length"

The Wine Gang says - "floral lift....and lots of zest and crunch"

Victoria Moore says - "reeks of dried fig"

Will Lyons says - "cented notes of dried fruits, dates and a whiff of eucalyptus and tree resin"

The combination of floral, zest, crunch, tree resin, dried fruits, fig, eucalyptus, cherries, pepper, black olive and coffee makes me want to run a mile. Put that in a blender and drink it.....

I know these aromas are designed to subtly describe wine, but together they appear to show that taste is entirely subjective and hard to meaningfully describe. Talk about covering all bases.

I cut the metal foil, pulled the firm real cork and poured a glass to accompany some reheated quiche, for a lack of anything more inspirational in the fridge. It looked resolute, but not too thick/inky in the glass, and had quaffable written all over it at only 13%. I took more of a gulp than a sip. I filled my mouth with a spicy, yet light wine that found its way into my belly without questioning my senses with the roughness you may expect from this cheaper offering. Before I knew it the glass was empty. So I refilled, almost swigging it.

This wine is a good everyday quaff, and has the ability to somehow refresh you, like a glass of rose on a hot summer's day. It dances between medium and light bodied, effortless delivering, without knocking you out with heavy alcohol content.

I don't think it deserves a gold medal, as the wine is lacking in memorable character. Very safe hands, reliable, nice, but perhaps just a tad dull. Almost too easy drinking, but if pushed and I was in the business of rating wines more formally I would certainly award it silver as it deserves any praise it gets at that price point.

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