What do I know?

This is why I find wine just so fascinating - the way people respond so differently to the same wine.

LOUIS BERNARD CHARTREUSE du BONPAS RESERVE 2007
Sainsburys £4.49 special offer 50% discount (tasted 1.i-'09)

This grenache, syrah, mourvedre Cote du Rhone blend weighs in at 14% behind the screw-cap, having been created by the big trans-atlantic negociant firm Boisset. In the glass its a clear, formal purple wine with a clean, pronounced nose of red and black fruit. With its low acidity and medium tannins, its full body presents more black fruit accented with a definite plumminess. All this is wrapped up in the expected pleasant finish.

This is a perfectly acceptable example of an big Rhone blend but when a wine is so confident about what it is, without any surprise or mystery, it looses something for me. The Murph, however, raved about it and I must say that I am in the minority - this same wine was commended in the Decanter Magazine 2008 World Wine Awards.

Toot toot!