99 Gerard Bertrand, Corbieres Les Cailloutis "Terroir"

So dark in fruit it nearly seems spoiled, but clean with nice spice in the background, Bertrand's "terroir" doesn't necessarily highlight anything about the soil of Southern France. It's instead a bold amalgam of rich fruit that proudly twists its medieval old world heritage into an enthusiastically modern profile of grenache, syrah, carignane, and mourvedre. (Immer says it's the carbonic maceration now popular in Corbieres.) The plummy aroma along with concentrated flavors of smoky dates, blackberries, sweet cassis, and framboise might even give off some violets with the right food.