Poking around the house for a low alcohol wine – I’ve got a long flight tomorrow and couldn’t deal with a 15.8% monster from the likes of Michel Rolland – I happened across this one, another Kermit Lynch import. Only 12%, biodynamic, amusing label, crappy plastic cork. Sounds fun!

Appealing soft purple – you know, for kids! – the wine’s visually stunning. On the nose, fairly typical Loire red with that tell-tale minerality, but with somewhat more fruit than I’ve come to expect. Drinking some’s a pleasure, with full, rustic tannins nicely set off by what seems to me to be riper fruit than anyone would have a right to expect at this price point. The only tip-off that this is not especially expensive is that the range of the experience of this wine is relatively narrow, staying relatively the same from the attack to the sostenuto. In short, what you have here is a wine that’s best enjoyed in a very linear, La Monte Young fashion. What you get is very, very pretty – and yet that’s all you get. Still, when the music’s this good, why complain?

Domaine Breton
Price: €8
Closure: Synthetic cork
Source: Retail