Domaine de l'Oratoire Saint Martin Reserve des Seigneurs Cairanne, 2008

2008 is not nearly as good a vintage as 1998, but this wine is 10 years younger than its sibling reported on below. It's very good and worth a purchase of a few bottles...but not as good as the 1998.

The color is deep and dark, but the aromas are much more muted than those of the 1998. With some time, they open up. Now it smells like a fruit bomb: dark cherries and red and blue berries. All of the spice and pepper are clearly in the background now but they will emerge in a year or two, giving the wine more depth and interest. Plenty of fruit aromas and flavors. Complexity will follow, but this will never approach the quality of the 1998. On the finish, there is a green quality that tells me the grapes never ripened fully. Will be good over three or four years but, in my opinion, not a wine to keep.