Costieres de Nimes is an appellation just South of Chateauneuf-du-Pape with similar stony soils and climate, in the South Rhone Valley.

Cepages:

Tastings / Rating:

"Another Excellent Estate is Mas des Bressades" Robert Parker "Readers cannot ask for more hedonistic, flavorful, mouth-filling, juicy wines than these efforts from Mas des Bressades, an estate that consistently makes the pages of my Best Buy reports. Picked very late (mid-October), the 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon / Syrah achieved nearly 14% natural alcohol. It reveals a textbook cedary, cigar box, black currant, and garrigue-scented nose, ripe, rich, mineral-like fruit flavours, medium to full body, and sweet tannin. It is a complex, impressively-endowed wine that should drink well for 3-4 years. From a purely hedonistic perspective, the 1998 Syrah / Grenache (a 50-50 blend) is an outstanding wine. Sexy and voluptuously-textured, it is not complex enough to merit a 90-point score, but its exuberance, vigor, gorgeous purity, and copious quantities of black currant fruit are hard to ignore. Drink this fruit bomb over the next 2-3 years." 1999 Best Buys...Robert Parker

Mas des Bressades AOC Costieres de Nimes 1996 Red

"The 1996 red wine, a consistent winner in previous reports, reveals a St.-Julien-like personality. Made from a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Syrah, and aged in oak casks, of which 40% were new, this wine exhibits a dense ruby/purple color, as well as a fruit cake, cedary, and cassis-scented nose with subtle oak in the background. In the mouth, there is high glycerin, beautiful balance, no evidence of wood, and thick, chewy, medium to full-bodied flavors with moderate tannin in the finish. While accessible and drinkable, it gives every indication of being capable of improving for 1-3 years, and lasting for 5-7." Rated 89 by Robert Parker