Domaine du Météore “Les Leonides” 2004 Tuesday, Jan 22 2008
Tasting Notes and France and Languedoc and Variety and Red and grenache et al
This comes from the Faugeres A.C. and is a blend of Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre with a little Carignan. Enquiries for trade and stockists can be directed to marcus@cesoirwine.com who, it must be said, is doing a sterling job bringing such interesting wines into the country.
Sweet wild herb and lavender fragrance wafting over cherries, raspberries, ash and licorice. It’s a most particular and evocative smelling wine. On the palate medium bodied with cherry, sour raspberry, thyme and mineral flavours with very attractive clean clear acidity and fine dry lightly raspy tannins. Really fresh and exuberant. Finishes with a red fruit and dried herb aftertaste. A super wine that offers up a little holiday in a bottle.
Rated : 91 Points
Tasted : Jan08
Alcohol : 13.5%
Price : $19.95
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2008 - 2011
Source : Importer Sample
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45 Responses to “Domaine du Météore “Les Leonides” 2004”
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:07 am
Geez Gaz lately anything more than 90 points is “super Wine”. I know youve got to keep sweet with people who provide samples but sheesh
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:22 am
I don’t have to keep anyone sweet who provides samples. I have not reviewed a number from this importer because I did not find them interesting enough (or priced or quality).
This coupled with
a) a backlog of 40+ dozen
and
b) the fact that most producers/importers don’t take punitive measures based on a less than glowing review anyway. They say ‘oh well, he did not like it but others do or will..and move on’..and send the next lot. They use the good reviews in marketing and forget the bad ones. That is how it works.
I re-iterate. This is a super wine and really good. I like it and I’d buy it - especially at under $20 for an import. If you don’t value the opinion given here, or don’t think it is genuine, then you have the option to not read it. I put the notes out there on a daily basis and anyone can come back and re-read them, and based on their own tasting experience, judge their fairness and accuracy. I’d like to think I am pretty consistent (whether consistently good or bad does not matter as much).Quite frankly I’d be happy enough if you did based on your (anonymous) comments that are usually either cynical or negative.
GW
PS. Sorry to everyone for being a bit cranky.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:24 am
No worries Gary. I also find that I’m rating probably the majority of wines above 88 these days in my own personal notes, with many, many scraping through into the 90s. If you do your research and listen to others whose opinion you respect (yourself included), pick wines that you think will be of interest, drink ones edging towards their most appropriate drinking window, and avoid those that have the potential to be ordinary, then good experiences will more often than not follow. And I must also say that wines such as the reviewed really seem to have improved in recent years - or perhaps inconsistency has been minimized. Keep up the good work …
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:38 am
I should have added that I’m often very worried about how high I am scoring wines - given that I like to think of myself as critical. So I make sure I try something that is “meant” to be “good” in an international sense every three weeks or so. Surprise, surprise the difference is not all that pronounced. A great recent example is a cheapy like 2005 Wynns BL vs. 2003 Lynch-Bages - the BL certainly did not come away disgraced by any means in this Cabernet-based face-off (92 vs. 93/94). Both admittedly are young but also have great potential!
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:39 am
The general quality of wine in Australia has improved markedly I agree but I am also selective in what I a) pick for potential review and then b) actually review based on quality.
There are some ordinary wines out there…sometimes I can’t believe some wineries would send stuff out and expect a positive review based on the quality.
This (system of mine) actually works much the same way as a general consumer (as you point out above) in that you would raise your odds by going in with some knowledge on what might make for a good wine - vintage, maker, region, good reviews etc
I also emphasise that I don’t see much point in spending the limited time I have writing about things I don’t want people to try - unless it is a widely available or anticipated release where forewarned may be fore armed.
Therefore most wine reviewed by me are 88 - 96 points being 88-90 Good (Bronze), 91-93 Excellent(Silver) and 94-96 Outstanding (Gold). All supported by a pretty detailed note (and a little picture).
GW
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:46 am
I couldn’t agree more. A site like this saves a know-nothing (or very little) like me a good deal of time - it’s also fun reading. I’ll let you sample to rot that I should avoid!! I’d rather not pay for it. I should really get back to work now …
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:35 pm
“a backlog of 40+ dozen”
!!!! - hope your work is not contemplating charging for storage
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
It is getting interesting..they are moving me to a smaller office soon. I might make an igloo out of the foamies. Might post a photo later..just for a laugh.
GW
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:58 pm
There you go. This is the front of my office. You can’t see the ones behind me, under my desk, at the side and those at home. Actually it is hard to get a feel for scale from this picture as they are 4 dozen deep and 2 dozen high in places.
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:08 pm
How on earth do you get rid of all the packaging?
Is it the old prison escape method of grinding the foam down, putting it into your trousers and slowly releasing it through the leg bottom as you walk down Miller Street?
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Yes, that is a slight backlog ! I think you have single-handedly kept the foam container industry in clover.
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Ha ha. I generally eat most of it (not having been in prison Dan..
It is light yet surprisingly filling.
GW
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Foam nappies?
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Maybe he should take the bottles out, and mark the package ‘return to sender’ *snigger*
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:03 pm
DanClarke said :
Hey, thats my trick!
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:10 pm
yes. Where do you think I got it from
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Hi Gary
Thanks for the note. I love this wine year in year out. Would expect it to be more expensive in Oz - around £8/bottle over here
January 24th, 2008 at 7:20 am
El Jenko to the rescue! I’d imagine this would be right up your alley and yes it does seem modestly priced (locally) all things considered.
Cheers
GW
January 24th, 2008 at 9:29 am
….anyway, back to the foam issue - enough of this thread drift.
Maybe you could use them as hydroponic garden boxes on your secluded patio for tomatoes…..or other leafy plants…….
January 24th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Apparently Campbell hires a skip to get rid of his..
GW
January 24th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Gary Walsh said :
Strruuuuuth..
I guess that’s an incentive to go to work everyday
January 24th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
OK. Here is a little game.
If anyone can guess the identity of the bottle of wine that is sitting on its lonesome, in the middle of the photo, perched high atop the foam then a prize of two bottles of the 2004 Leonides as faithfully described above will be delivered.
Game closes midnight 31 January 2008.
Thanks to Marcus of Cesoir for being a sport.
GW
Terms and Conditions
Open to persons over 18 only.
One guess per identity - valid email address must be entered in comments.
Prize given at the absolute discretion of Winorama. No correspondence will be entered into. Judges (that’s me) decision is final.
Persons not considered to be regular Winorama readers or those suspected to be non-wine enthusiasts will be excluded.
Open to Australian residents only (sorry about that)
In the event of any untoward legal action from government departments Winorama reserve the right to cancel the competition even though we feel we have done sufficient research to ensure legal compliance.
January 24th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
NFI. However at least you will have plenty of packaging to choose from when you send the wines to the lucky winner !
January 24th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
It is actually not that hard. It has just been released. It is over $20.
GW
January 24th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
That’s easy for you to say ! I’m sure members and associates of the SLDS would have no trouble however…..
January 24th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
and it is an Australian wine - just to make it clear.
GW
January 24th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
clearly a riesling.
January 24th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
and it’s a red wine…in a Burgundy bottle..
GW
January 24th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Yes, and it looks as though it might be under screwcap, so I thought the label might be Hoddles Creek but they have no new pinot releases at the moment.
So it must be the new Hillcrest Pinot and that LDCB has finally seen the light but been too afraid to admit it.
January 24th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
It is a screwcap and no - you are a wishful thinker but hell has not frozen over just yet. Not hillcrest but the label is similar.
GW
January 24th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Is it a portet?
January 24th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
shelmerdine pinot?
January 25th, 2008 at 10:31 am
I won’t say yes or no just yet..and I guess this whole thing is a bit hidden out of sight..but someone in the trade has already guessed correctly.
GW
January 28th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Gary Walsh said :
Well either that or they are just the ones that you notice, hence you couldnt answer constuctive critism without a personal attack back!!
On the subject I agree the quility of wine is in general consistant these days as is your reviews, My question was is your reviews all too consistant as about the only lowly scored wines i see are oldies that may be below par for 1 reason or another and also 91 points is not super wine in anyones translation of points to palate and it never will be, if it is its more than 91 points
January 28th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Eddy said :
It is not a personal attack, just an (accurate) observation on a comment that was not in any way constructive - more just plain insulting and loaded with insinuation (from an anonymous source - never a valid email address). Makes a nice change from just ‘leather’ I suppose….
It’s a super wine, it has character and charisma, for a low price. Forget the bloody points. Some wines are great and not high scoring (and I consider 91 a high score!!). They don’t need to be…and have you even tasted it? No.
And for about the tenth time…I am not generally reviewing the low scoring wines because I don’t have time to spend typing and formatting them…..I want to focus on the good ones. It is not a difficult concept to grasp..even for someone as single minded as yourself.
GW
February 1st, 2008 at 12:14 pm
so what was the bottle?
February 1st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
2005 Plantagenet Shiraz
GW
February 2nd, 2008 at 11:30 am
Just to play devil’s advocate, I am often quite interested in the low-scoring wines as well. I remember with fondness the list that Halliday had on Winepros of the low-scores that he didn’t write up. Often a few surprises on it. Any chance of having a list or similar? It often helps the punter like me to avoid wine with faults.
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Yes. I understand what you mean and it could be good but well hmmmmm I don’t really like rendering a wine down to just a name and a score without some supporting note. You can still see just the score on Hallidays website by the way. Anyway, I have thought about this a bit, and I can’t clutter up the main page as it will look messy and the formatting takes too long. I might have a new menu option “Wines not reviewed” with a list and a score and perhaps a small supporting text - “too thin, green and oaky” but this will involve programming something nice (which takes time away from reviewing) and I am not sure that is what Winorama is all about anyway (at the moment). If I get more time (or money) then I might do a more comprehensive range. For now I think you get a fair bit for nothing (and it’s about as much as I can manage).
GW
February 2nd, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Thats OK Gary, nIce to hear that it was thought of
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I can’t believe how much you write really. You’re doing a top job. Get linc and david to get off their butts
February 4th, 2008 at 9:58 am
I’ve been giving this a bit of thought Gary. I am concerned about your liver and to help you out I’ll send you my work address. You can re-route anything over $50 to me and I’ll help you out with a tasting note (you wouldn’t understand anything in that price range anyway).
February 4th, 2008 at 10:47 am
That is very kind of you Chris..problem is you would cost me a fortune in mobile phone bills having to talk you through them every night..
GW
May 8th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Come on guys, this is a superbe wine!
I am head waiter in a 2 michelin stars restaurant in the south of france and sell this wine since few years. It is an excellent value for money wine wine and if you usually like southern wines, do not hesitate! You people should read less guide and taste more wine
May 8th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
What? What do you think 91 points and ’super wine’ mean!
GW