2009 Chateau de Nages COSTIERES DE NIMES "Vieilles Vignes" (Rhone Valley, France)

This 50/50 Grenache/Syrah is terrific.  Soft-textured, open, but densely-flavored.  Drinking really well now, but should hold for another 2 years or so.

Pure, dark blackish ruby.  Low-toned, deep nose of dark blackberry extract shot-through with smoked meats and shovels-full of sandstone.  Deep, minerally, iodine-infused flavors immediately fill every nook and cranny in the mouth, with a deep, dark slightly bitter fruit component I can only say tastes like fermented, crushed blackberry pomace. Loads of tannin that's neither coarse nor soft, and fairly low acidity, but it doesn't seem over-extracted or out of balance.  Just deep and clingy.  B+, maybe a little more.  $14.99 at Total Wine in McLean, VA.  Imported by Saranty Imports, White Plains, NY.