Last night, to go with an herb-and-lentil soup and mustardy green salad dinner, I chose a singleton (love getting rid of a line item in my long inventory) bottle of 2000 Jasper Hill Emily's Paddock, from the gold rush region of Victoria, Australia. I've liked Jasper Hill's wines in the past, but have only had the Georgia's Paddock. The wine is a blend I don't believe I've ever had before anywhere else: syrah (called shiraz on the bottle, of course) and cabernet franc. Unfortunately I'll never be able to say it worked or not. Swampy, necrotic nose of stale coffee and cabbage and a palate that dropped all fruit and turned into parched tannins in under five minutes. A real DNPIM.
So off I went to the cellar and this time chose a 2006 Domaine de la Mordoree 'Reine des Bois' Lirac, a wine I actually bought at the winery in Tavel. Tons of white pepper with raspberry on the nose, and earthy with hints of passion fruit and sweet carrot on the palate. A bit soft on the acidity, IMO, not so much that it wasn't entirely enjoyable, it was, but just that which might remind one might want to err on the side of caution about how long to leave remaining bottles in the cellar. Great with the soup!