Les Clos 2006 Perdus "Prioundo" Corbières

Absolutely beautiful wine. Picked this up from K&L Wines in San Francisco after browsing the shelf talkers. A few facts sold me on this wine, including the fact that it is biodynamic, was the nice description about where the grapes come from:

"Les Clos Perdus is a small winery based in the village of Peyriac de Mer in the Languedoc region of the South of France. Founded by Paul Old and Hugo Stewart, Les Clos Perdus (Lost Vineyards) mission is to discover and nurture select parcels of old vines, scattered throughout the hillsides. Many of these small vineyards had been disregarded by larger producers because of their isolation, their low cropping potential and their inability to be machine worked. Their ultimate goal is to produce distinctive well balanced wines of the very highest quality. Prioundo contains 70% Grenache, 30% Cinsault from select vineyards in the Corbières hills, near the village of Villesèque."

I found a funky, earthy nose, with virant red berry flavors focused on sweet red cherries balanced by smoky tobacco and spice notes on the finish. Wonderful acidity.

While the debate about whether biodynamics has an effect on wine is fierce, I for one certainly think there is. Now, I'm not saying I can spot a wine made biodynamically if tasting blind, but what I do find when I try "BD" wines is that they don't taste too perfect, and this is a good thing.

The more wines I drink, the more I appreciate uniqueness, while earlier I might have settled for sameness in experience. There are some wines that I've drunk recently that I perhaps didn't think tasted so great, but found them fun to drink because they were so different from anything I've ever tried before (a slightly oxidized white wine from Hungary comes to mind, from A Cote).

BD wines, at least the ones I've tried, typically have an earthy note some where in the aroma and beautiful vibrant fruit flavors. I don't get tired fruit notes like other wines. They all seem to have soul, if you will, which can be missing from mass produced wines. I know I'm probably not making much sense here as I'm grasping at the appropriate way to describe what I mean, but try a biodynamic wine and see if you get the same thing. There are many beautifully made wines that seem competent, but they lack the extra "oomph" that pushes them beyond just tasty. The BD wines I've had all seem to have that quality.