Latoque 2015 Reserve, Languedoc Roussillon

Does this wine exist?  If it weren’t for the fact that I found a bottle at a wine shop, I would have to say “no.”

A Wine Mystery

I read about the wine while perusing a local wine website. They listed it as having a 90 point score from the Wine Advocate, being produced by the Les Vignobles Foncalieu winery in France, and being priced at under $11.  The website also showed that the wine was for sale all around. That is the kind of wine I want to try. It may be good enough for our wine newsletter. 

Here’s the review that the website published:

Ripe, medium- to full-bodied, nicely concentrated and with ripe tannin, it has real Cabernet character, lots of dark fruits, scorched earth and chocolate aromas and flavors, and a good finish. Drink 2016-2022

Wine Advocate (?)

However, the wine does not seem to exist anywhere else in the world, except at my local wine shop.

1. The wine is not listed on the winery’s website.
2. The supplied wine review is not in the Wine Advocate’s database, or anywhere else
3. The wine is not available in any wine shop anywhere in the USA (according to wine-searcher.com)

What We Know

Here’s what we do know: it’s primarily  Cabernet Sauvignon with a bit of Syrah and  Malbec. It’s also quite delicious and drinks above its mysterious lineage.  Melted chocolate and blackberry and licorice on the nose. A bit of forest floor (sous bois) on the palate backed up with lush full-bodied tannins. The finish edges into bay leaves and black fruit. Very nice indeed.

Mystery Solved?

So, where did it come from? Most likely, this is a control brand: a wine made for a corporate client with its own label and blend. This is a common practice amount larger chain wine shops and grocery stores.