1999 Domaine du Mage Vin de Pays des Cotes de Gascogne

[Innkeeper]

1999 Domaine du Mage, Vin de Pays des Cotes de Gascogne ($8 Blue Hill Wine Shop). Alcohol level 12%. This might be called the Alpha-Omega wine as it is a blend of Merlot and Tennat. This Southwestern France wine comes off as a nice balance between the two and its other elements. It is purple to the eye. It gives you blackberries, other black fruit, and peppery spice on the nose and upfront. A lovely complexity of heavy fruit and lighter spice cross the palate, and the finish is delightful. This is an almost unbelievable value. That’s the good news. The bad news is that my main man Marc handed me the bottle and said, “I’ll let you buy the last one.” Sigh!

We matched it with wonderful fillet mignon in bacon rasher broiled with EVOO and Morton Rub; and also enjoyed a salad with blue cheese dressing with it. Very nice Saturday night was enjoyed by the two of us.

[Innkeeper]

Picked up two more '99s and an '00 recently. The '00 was $2 less! They had the '02 in stock, also at $6, but said it had not come around yet. We popped a '99 tonight with broiled beef kielbasa, and salad with b.c. dressing. Must have still been good, since I had to armwrestle true love for my share.

[Innkeeper]

We popped the '00 tonight, after picking up another '99 at $8 today. No regrets. The '00 is still not as good as its predessor. Decanted this one 30 minutes before dinner. It was still a terrific wine for six bucks, but it was also still a little tightly wound. We think it had something to do with the Tennat. Not sure how vintages in Southwest France worked into this. At any rate it went as well as any $6 wine could go with leftover meatloaf and veggies. We will stick with the '99 for the timebeing.

[Innkeeper]

Popped a couple more of the '99s tonight (have lost track of how many we have now!). Shared it with friends and devoured a roast leg of lamb, with accompaning fingerling taters, and salad with B.C. dressing. It doesn't get much better. Try it, you'll love it.

[wondersofwine]

It sounds delightful from your description, IK.

[Georgie]

Ah,to be retired...friends in for a big dinner with lots of wine on a weeknight....sigh...someday...

[winoweenie]

Amen. ww

[Innkeeper]

Had our last bottle of this last night (sigh). Matched it with broiled Atlantic salmon, with potato salad, and regular salad. Was going to have Pinot with it, but didn't have any (sigh). The du Mage, despite the splase of Tannet did just fine with it. Had to share with son-in-law though. One of these days, this will come to an end.

Tonight it was pizza with Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale (sigh).