Grape Variety: Trousseau

Colour: Red

Red wine grape sparsely grown in several regions of southern France. Recently investigated as one of the varities found in vineyards and collectively known as Petite Sirah in California. Something of a mystery grape, it may also be the variety known as Bastardo in both Australia and Portugal.

Garnet coloured with an expressive bouquet, the Trousseau from Domaine Dugois is both delicate and elegant, musky on the nose with attractive tannins. Morello cherry, spices, blackberry jostle for attention on the palate and there is an edge of pinesap which makes this very appealing. Try with wild boar or venison.

A Trousseau specialist Lucien Aviet’s “store,” the Caveau du Bacchus in a tiny country village, is several dark, damp ramshackle rooms whose ancient stone walls shelter a helter-skelter collection of wine bottles, barrels, hoses, a cobweb-covered statue, a player piano, dusty old cartons, a gas-burning stove, a cluttered desk and a dirty sign labelled “Prière a Bacchus” (“prayer to Bacchus”). And don’t forget Gorki the mongrel. The Trousseau “Cuvée des Géologues” is made from old vines grown on limestone; it is understated initially with a hint of wild cherry and redcurrant with some musky notes in the background. Each vintage though has a particular accent. Typically it has an intense bouquet of red fruit jelly and forest berries and earthy tones and a palate marked by redcurrant and red apple skin crunchy acidity. The initial impression is of primary fruit, but this is definitely is a complex wine with the potential to unfold itself over the next ten to fifteen years.