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Châteauneuf du Pape Font de Michelle 2008 in The Times Top 50 Winter Reds

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Thanks once again to Jane MacQuitty for including one of our favourite wines in her Top 50 Reds of Winter in The Times (paywall) on Saturday.

We were already enthusiastic when we first tasted this wine en primeur back in October 2009. Here is what we thought at the time:

“The 2008 opens up beautifully with a nose of violets, dried fruits and savoury notes. It offers notable concentration and focus with lots of crunchy freshness and subtle liquorice flavours to add additional lift and purity. Guillaume feels that the 2008’s palate will retain its fruit character as it evolves rather than becoming spicy as other vintages have done. Its sweet core supports its firm tannic structure to its long finish.”

On retasting the wine a few years later it more than delivered on its initial promise and our only question was how much can we buy? Here are Jane’s notes.

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The illustrious Mr Parker was not a huge fan, but on this occasion we will have to politely disagree. In fact, this would be a knockout wine for Christmas Day, grab a case here, for £255 inc VAT (£21.25 per bottle).

And why not throw in a 3 bottle wooden case of Taylor’s Quinta de Terra Feita 1995 for £99.00 inc VAT whether to crack open over Christmas or to tuck under the tree for someone you like a lot…