Chateau Lamargue 2005

Sometime ago I reviewed this Costieres de Nimes vineyard's white and liked it very much. This blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre is more problematical. It comes on very nicely with a good nose and a satisfying blend of dark berry, plum and licorish flavors and I felt very hopeful about it, but as we worked our way deeper into the bottle we both found that the licorish became dominant, to the point of lending the wine a bitter taste. It may be that this was just a bad bottle, as too much air came out when I uncorked it. $8.99.