Rotem & Mounir Saouma Inopia 2015, Cotes du Rhone Villages

The promise of something different from the Southern Rhone. No, not another low sulphur wine; that’s not even different anymore (but rather fashionable). Here we have a wine made with ancient methods, by a producer with a Burgundy background.

This is different indeed. A good wine if you look for a hearty red, but lacks that Southern Rhone/Grenache typicity I love so much. The nose is marked heavily by reductive notes reminiscent to a spa (let’s mention, it’s not a screwcapped wine), hiding the fruits, and a whole day of aeration makes no improvement. The generous, warmth filled palate is more proper CdR, that pleasant, rich mouthfeel almost make you forgive the nose the missing character. Almost.

Rating: OK – a potentially very good wine with a minor flaw, 83 points
Price: 18 Euros (bought at N+M Weine)
Recommendation: there are better Rhone reds at half the price.
Drinking window: now-2020