Wine Tasting Note: Osborne & Lynch Le Renegade, 2004, Minervois, France  Add/Read Comments

He continues "It has always been our primary source [for grapes] but it was this year that we were able to establish ourselves in a physical as well as spiritual sense. Minervois has been an AC for just over twenty years and has finally become recognised for offering extremely good value 'Rhone Style' blends with their own particular garrigue-like character."

I first came across the Renegade as it was trumpeted across the (now defunct) Unwins estate; it must have been pre-blog days as no record is coming up in a search (and I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of every wine I have sampled). This is a new blend though offering a greater proportion of Grenache than previously. The wine has just received a placing in Waitrose at the £5.99 price point.

As Ciaran confirmed Minervois does not really receive much attention. Despite being a favourite region of mine, the wines are not seen that often on retailers shelves. Osborne & Lynch hope to counter this trend by focusing on 'the brand'.

Wine Tasting Note: Osborne & Lynch Le Renegade, 2004, Minervois, France.
Retails for £5.99.

A lick of licorice, a splash of dark chocolate on the finish and a goodly amount of soft, dark fruits wrapped up in a herb encrusted while. medium-full bodied. Screw-capped. Alcohol 13.5% It's lighter than I recall, probably from the increased Grenache component. Ciaran describes this being 'Rhone in style' - that it maybe with its herby flavours and similar grape varieties (55% Grenache, 33% old vine Carignan and 12% 'others') but it is the distinct Southern French richness that I enjoyed immensely - distinctly different than many a simple Rhone red.
Scribblings Rating - 90/100

It's red and it's French - so this is my belated entry to the Beau hosted Wine Blogging Wednesday.