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France

Domaine des Homs 2003, A.C. Minervois. **HERITAGE WINE**

Colour: very dark and deep red with purple.
Nose:  quite expressive, fruity spicy, with lots of complex cherry and bramble fruit, minerals, earthy nuances, phenolic impressions, a touch of smoke and vanilla, some nutmeg and classical oak, beautifully balanced and integrated oak, strong, noble personality.
Taste: intense, powerful, fresh, compact, with great earthy and spicy fruit (cherry, bramble, berry), minerals, ample, classy tannins, ripe, but also elegant, phenolic nuances and some farmyard, smoke, classical oak, but exceptionally well complementing the aroma's (you hardly notice where the oak begins and the fruit stops and vice versa), great harmony, perfect extraction.
Finish: intense, long, fanning out, earthy phenolic, spicy and smoky fruit, piquant but ripe tannins, good freshness, clean great balance, seamless fruit-oak transition.

* A wine of great purity, with complex and classy earthy spicy fruit, beautifully concentrated, intense, elegant, with freshness, minerals, great tannins and an exemplary balance between fruit and wood, the oak amplifying the exceptional fruit in a classic fashion. Everything in this wine is right!

- Has gone trough many difficult phases since its bottling in Nov. '04, now it has settled a bit: the fruit is gradually changing into a more earthy and complex style, acquiring a more classical character with increasing depth of flavour. Drink it from now on, but do not be surprised this wine will change in style and follow ups and downs like a good, classical red Burgundy. Will probably keep until 2009 maybe a bit longer.

- Taste what a good vineyard with old vines can produce in the hands of a gifted and intelligent wine maker. The young en enthusiastic producer Jean-Marc de Crozals is still experimenting to find his way in style, but this wine shows he is on the right track and also the great potential of his vineyards with old vines. This wine shows how to use oak as a supportive instrument: highlighting the great fruit from the grapes and vineyards.  The aroma's of the terroir are so close to the aroma's of the oak, you hardly notice the oak. it contributes an extra dimension and stamina to the wine. This wine shows clearly the unique properties of good old world wines.
A modern but highly skilled and passionate expression of this very fine terroir, an outstanding example how to construct a wine with powerful tannins, great intensity and ripeness next to a lively freshness and exemplary purity of fruit enhanced by the intelligent use of oak. No heaviness or over extraction, no forced or over processed fruit, no make-up from sexy and obvious wood. Balance is the keyword here. Not an easy-pleaser, but great value for money.

- lotnr.: L 4315

- tasted: 26-04-'05

- estimated retail price ca. 7 euro

- production:  8000 bottles

- Domaine des Homs, Mr. Jean-Marc de Crozals, 11160 Rieux - Minervois, tel.: + 33-468 781051 / mobile: + 33-609749492 / fax.: + 33-468 781051 / e-mail: jm.decrozals@free.fr / web site: www.domainedeshoms.com