Wow- what a discovery! $22. Made by Clos Erasmus.
Started w/ a musty, earthy, sltly. stinky nose. Once that blew off, there was none of that in the flavors of this wine. Deep color, blackberry fruit, sweet baking spces, cocoa. Full-bodied with complex layers of flavor. A hint of coconut and sweet toasted oak on the long 30+ second finish. YUM! What a value at $22.(price w/ case discount)
Jazin- 92-93+ pts.

Jazin,

Totally in agreement with you on this wine. Have had a few bottles and love those waves after waves of fruit. Great grenachy spice on the finish as well. The two bottles I've opened more recently have also had that stinky nose that you mentioned.

I think the 2000 was the first vintage that Eric Solomon brought into the US market, the 2001 Laurel seems to a little more widely available for a couple bucks more (though I haven't cracked one open yet).

If you like the Laurel, you should also try the second wine of Mas Doix, Solanques, available for about the same price. Great bang for the buck.

Howie

Where can 1 find this bargain? Thanks.

We bought this at a small wine store in NY, they let us taste it and we bought their remailing few bottles. They said it is usually allocated to restaurants -so hard to find. I had never seen it before.

PJ's used to have it but they may have be all out by now... The 2000 was fairly scarce (I think fewer than 200 cases brought into the US). Winesearcher shows that Wine Exchange and K&L both have the 2001--but it's a few bucks more, closer to $30.

2001 Erasmus is supposed to be great, so I'd expect the hand-me-downs to be great, too.