Rabasse Charavin Cairanne, 2012

This is my last bottle of this lovely Cairanne, and I am sad to see it go. But, fortunately, I avoided my usual temptation of hanging on to the last bottle long enough to deprive me of its greatest charm. Corinne Couturier's Cairanne takes three or four years to develop its best aromas and flavors, but this bottle is fully mature.

Medium deep crimson. Grenache strawberries and red raspberries. Everything I like in Cairanne, one of my favorite CDR Villages appellation. Now I get that peppery spice that I love but was missing in some of the bottles I drank four or five years ago. Nice finish.

Rabasse Charavin Cairanne is 70% Grenache from vineyards 40 to 70 years of age plus Syrah (15%), Cinsault and Counoise. Behind Domaine de l'Oratoire Saint Martin, it is my second favorite Cairanne but almost impossible to find in my market area.