Laurent Miquel Père et Fils Syrah Grenache 2008

Hi, again, I know it's not really soon, but I am here to write about a locally available wine, as promised. I will also embark on another quick rant at the end, but I promise to be brief this time and I will save it for the end in hopes that people will at least read the wine review as you don't have to wade through complaints about which you do not care. The wine in front of me is the Laurent Miquel 2008 Syrah Grenache. It's got the words "Père et Fils" on it, which I see all the time on French labels, but for which I never bothered to find a definition. I just looked it up and found that it translates to something along the lines of "father and son". Now I know. The region here is Vin de Pays d'Oc, so, again, we're probably talking Languedoc (France) here, though it could technically include fruit from Roussillon. I am sorry for you and the wine that I was drinking coffee earlier, because it certainly impairs my palate somewhat, but I think I can adequately evaluate the wine anyway. At least I don't smoke cigarettes. (Side note, I found it funny in the movie Mondovino [which, side side note, was a great movie if you're a bit of a wine nerd or if you just want a very opinionated look at artisanal winemaking versus making "globalized" or "international" styles of wine which has a lot of footage of people's nice dogs], seeing the super expensive winemaking consultant, Michel Rolland, seem to chain smoke cigarettes when most of his job is to taste wines and give advice based on his evaluations.) So, digression over -- here's my take on the wine:
$10, distributed by DaVine Wine
Nose: jammy blackberry with hints of red berries and a bit of nail polish remover (it's a touch more than I'd like, but it's not enough for me not to drink the wine), along with a little peppery spice. This smells like it's a warm climate wine because of the jamminess, but the intensity is medium and I don't smell heat from the alcohol. The palate is pretty similar, but the red berry fruit is more defined (still more dark fruit than red here), as is the black pepper, which is still not too overwhelming, as it sometimes can be for me. Intensity here is also medium, with medium to medium plus body. On the finish, the fruit fades faster than the pepper. The nail polish remover element (ethyl acetate) is a bit more pronounced than I'd like on the midpalate, but I don't notice it in the beginning or end. The finish is medium minus and quite peppery. Overall, this is a simple wine with a minor flaw and minor imbalance. As a result, right now I'm saying it's near the cusp of acceptable to good, but into the good territory. The ethyl acetate does become more apparent with air, but it's hardly noticeable upon popping and pouring. Keep in mind that my number scores are literal as the poor/acceptable/good/very good/outstanding scale goes, and thus seem lower than those of many professional critics. I'll give this an 81+. To be fair, if you like really fruity wines, you'll like this more than I do. At $10, I'd still say it's a solid value if you like wines like this or wines from this area.

Now the biggest problem I have with this wine: it comes sealed with one of those rubbery plastic fake "corks". I've complained about these before, so I'll stop there.