This guest blog is from Laura Hadland who blogs at Extreme Housewife. In this post, she reviews a sample of Vin de France Rouge 'Prestige' Daniel Bessiere, available now from Just Great Wine.
I approached this wine with some doubts. The label claims it to be a fruity red mixed from the finest grapes - but no specific grape varieties are mentioned. This is something I would perhaps avoid normally, as I am happy to cling to what I know, the familiar varieties of Shiraz and Rioja calling to me over their nameless 'table wine' friends.
However, in this case, there was no real cause for alarm. The wine smells of rich fruit, but also that hint of the barrels that the wine was, albeit briefly, aged in. As I start to drink more wine, and think more about what I am drinking, I am starting to associate this smell of the cask very much with French wines.
Upon drinking, I get a juicy blackberry but it is also quite a thin, almost astringent type of flavour - I've really struggled to identify what it is I can taste and smell and I feel like there are elements of an almost dark treacle flavour,a hint of parkin at bonfire night, but very much without the sweetness.. This wine is quite high in tannins but not overly tart, and there is definitely no real sweetness to this wine at all.
It is 12% so a medium alcohol content, but I thought it tastes a bit stronger because of the savouriness of the flavour. However, that said, it is definitely a light bodied wine with very little aftertaste. Overall, this is quite easy drinking for the price of £7.17 per bottle. However, I wouldn't call it a beginner's wine. It is more complex, and not as approachable for its lightness of body and absence of sweetness.
We enjoyed it with a salami and vegetable dish, and it was able to complement the light spicing of the sausage and not over power the vegetables, so I thought t was an excellent table wine in this respect and great value for money.
You can follow Laura on Twitter here and view her blog here.
