Galhaud Old Vines Grenache Noir

Grape: Grenache noir

Region: Cotes Catalanes, southwestern France

Vintage: 2004

Price: $11.99

In the glass: Galhaud Grenache is a deep garnet-red color with a semi-opaque brick core going out into a tinted orangy rim definition with medium-high viscosity.

On the nose: The wine immediately exudes rustic notes of bloody rare steak, beef jerky, iodine and the initially muted fruit, then comes through with crushed elder fruit, leather, ripe plums, dates and herbs de Provence. Hints of spice, old wood, peppercorn and phenols also are present.

On the palate: It coats the mouth with a chewy and mature characteristic, displaying all the leather and aged fruit character one could expect from a forward mature wine made from grenache grapes. There’s certainly a great deal of figgy undertones on the fruit with again plum compote and stewed red apples, signature licorice root and earthy minerals, but through the middle it really flourishes with nice balance and more pungent spice-laden black fruit into a finish with supple tannins and fine length.

Odds and ends: Galhaud Grenache wine is borne of a wild area of Europe and its character is fully in line with that. This fully mature and slightly more rustic wine is the diametrical opposite of the “modern” fruit bombs produced in California, Spain and Australia. It possesses a different style of finesse, which admittedly is an acquired taste, but it is interesting and certainly a great wine for food and nothing else. It needs to be opened for at least one to two hours before drinking, and try it with bison or lamb. It is a wine that grows on you. Galhaud Grenache is for drinking now through the end of this year.

Gil Lempert-Schwarz’s wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.