Burge Family 2003 Garnacha Jan 05

A dry grown, estate Grenache which according to the label, weighs in at 15.8% alcohol so it is no surprise that the bouquet shows lifted alcohol but the rest of the profile is a very pleasant with milk chocolate, spice, perfumed violets and raspberry fruit. A real baby of the wine, the acid is noticeably youthful, tannins are powdery and chewy whilst the fruit has been well balanced and is deeply seated. It's a well-balanced, medium-weight, clean wine with an agreeable flavour complexity which is created by a sweet under layer that is offset by off-sweet raspberry and milk chocolate. With time, this could turn into something very enjoyable as it's certainly not your average NutraSweet lolly water Grenache. In fact, after it had been open for about eight hours it had put on weight, almost all semblance of sweetness had disappeared and the complexity had improved. There was a real “meaty character” to the wine which also finished long and dry and that makes me wonder if there is some Mourvedre in it. Rated as Recommended with *** for value, this is a Grenache I would be happy to drink at any time.