From Southern France we tasted a spicy red wine made of the famous GSM cuvée: Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre grape varieties. The appellation La Clape has been its own since 2015, and is situated in the Western part of the Languedoc area, near Narbonne.

The producer Gérard Bertrand is one of the front figures of wine and especially organic wines in Southern France, and is the fourth generation in his family to run a wine business. He took over in 1987 when his father suddenly passed away, and has since 2002 transformed his business towards biodynamic wine growing practices. Today the firm has 17 estates with 977 hectares of biodynamically grown vineyards plus lots of co-operation with local growers.

The Château L’Hospitalet La Réserve Rouge 2023 offers fantastic notes of ripe blueberries and dark plums, black olives, bay leaf, figs, cocoa and vanilla from oak barrel aging. The balance between acidity and tannin structure is excellent, and the wine has a long finish of ripe berries and vanilla.

The alcohol is 15 %, and in Sweden the price is 219 SEK at Systembolaget (nr 7314201).

This is a wine that is excellent with all meat dishes including well-grilled lamb and game dishes. Spicy sauces are also very tasty, given the acidity level and complexity of the wine.

This wine is really very price-worthy, and we give it 94 points!