Vignobles Arnaud et Marcuzzi – Perle du Payre – 2012

Dark ruby red core, but the rim is starting to look a little bit rusty, more ruby towards tawny, indicating a certain evolution. Also the nose is beyond the primary fruitiness, it’s showing some maturity here, with notes of spice box, tobacco. The fruit has dried a bit so sweet fruity notes, more reminiscent of red berries. Palate has medium weight, with a classic texture I would say; still youthful, slightly pronounced tannins. We have some leafy notes in here as well, medium weight; but quite good density of fruit as well, with dark plum and sweet red berry fruit. So aromatically it’s well-developed, but on the finish the tannins are still dominating a bit and giving a slightly dry, angular finish; so certainly a wine to put back in the cellar for one to two years, to hope that the tannins will round off a little bit.