TN - Ravishing carignan: a Belgian with a Plan

Ever had a race car in a bottle? I just did:

GT-C, 2005 of LePlan

Dirk Vermeersch, a former race driver and Maserati dealer (okay, he was also involved in dealing Volvo’s and Lancia, but these cars are not so sexy) sold all his belongings and went with his family to the Southern Rhône pursuing his dream.

There he started up a winery and damn does he make good wines. Just (re)tasted (well, sipped with loads of enthusiasm) his GT-C wine. Nope, no Gran Turismo but Grand Terroir Carignan. Monovarietal carignan are few and far between, I can assure you. This grape is often declared as being too dull to do a solo.

But boy, theory can be so wrong. Dirk, mister 100%, makes 100% right choices: low yields (around an astonishing 25 hl/ha), green harvest, old vines (on average around 40 years), etc. Result: what vibrancy on the nose. Peppery at first, subsequently liquorice and tons of black and red fruit are fighting for your attention. Talking about a concentrated nose… Then a sip and you can almost feel the sunny South on the tip of your tongue. Warm fruit, tannins that belong rather to the softies’ category, lean but no so mean acidity. In one word balance. This is a carignan I dig!

Oh, by the way, on the label it reads “powered by nature”. I’m really happy that nature can make such smooth running turbo engines.

In Belgium you can find this wine at (among others) Pin’art (Mechelen), and in the UK Vignerons de France (BN3 3JJ HOVE) are taking care of distribution.

Wine: LePlan Vermeersch, GT-C, Vin de Pays de la Drôme, 2005
Price: 8,20 EUR at Pin’Art (Belgium-Mechelen)

If you enjoyed this post, make my day and buy me a glass of wine.

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