Forget points. Forget shopping-list tasting notes. Forget wine tasting as a ‘competition’ to see which wine is best.

The endorsement I will give this wine is that I love it. Each vintage I have tried has had the same personality. It’s the personality of a particular grape variety grown in particular soils.

It’s bloody, ferrous, meaty and fresh, with minerality and bright fruit. It’s drinkable. It’s food friendly. And I like to drink it.

Best of all, it’s affordable, at under £10.

If I had this on the table with Lafite 2005, I would drink this first (if my experience of Lafite 2005 last year was typical – a tightly bound wine with roast coffee oak notes that wasn’t all that much fun to drink at the moment).

The wine? Domaine Du Cros Marcillac Lo Sang del Pais 2009. 12.5% alcohol.

UK agent: Les Caves de Pyrene

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