The label looks like all of Melbourne’s bars at the moment sadly, so many empty chairs. This blend of mostly Merlot with some Cabernet Franc from a vineyard north of Pomerol avoids the appellation naming and conventional oaky way of Bordeaux with organic growing, low intervention making and a basic Vin de France label. Rich, ripe and clean with a juicy freshness to lift. Loads of ripe raspberries, cherries and leaf flood the nose and mouth, wrapped up in that Bordeaux gravel and clay mineral thing. In fact I must confess that characteristic reminds me of pulling off a new gum boot caked in clay and soil after a winter walk in the damp English countryside. Weird how our sense of smell can evoke time and place. Succulent and soothing tannin and acidity to end. Perhaps not the cool just ripe claret of old but a delicious clean and glossy natural wine from a warm vintage.
13% alcohol. Diam. $32 but seems it’s available for $24 on some on line stores which make it good value Bordeaux,
92 to 93 after a day or two.
Cognitive Bottle Therapy 
Autocorrect has turned Diam into Diamond, but then again they are the crown jewels of corks.
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Thanks, David, loyal reader. Corrected now. Good to see so many imports with er..diamonds instead of dodgy tree bark. Would Oscar have approved?
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