Did we revert to type? Wales 23 - 15 England

And so it came to pass, the Englishmen were punished for their over-confidence and lack of discipline. You just can't trust anyone these days can you? Put a team in a match-winning position and they revert to type: loose all creativity and forget everything you have practiced on the training ground. Where's the wine?

CASTELMAURE GRANDE CUVEE CORBIERES 2005

The Wine Society £11.50 (tasted 28.i-'09)

14.5%(!) grenache-syrah blend with a natural cork. First impressions are promising: deep and rich ruby-red colour and a clean medium nose full of spice and strawberry red fruit. The palette is dry, with a little acid hanging about (the tasting notes suggest it will see out 2011), and high tannins giving it a full viscose mouthfeel. Red and black fruit now with liquorice undertones. The long length regresses the blackberries back to the bramble, and dusts your mouth with Schwartz turmeric. Interesting and rustic moves past robust and starts to nudge raw.

One could say that this is a full winter wine which needs rich food, and the argument that (certain) wines cannot be drunk without food is one which I subscribe to. I cannot, however, envisage just how hearty your cassoulet would have to be to justify a wine as rustic as this. I started my wine-life with good Corbieres, but I don't recall it ever being this raw.

Proof of a more refined palette, a bad bottle, or a poor tasting note?