When we opened our bottle of Le Roc Cuvée Don Quichotte 2002 – a 50-50 mix of Syrah and Négrette – the other night, it took us about a split second to recognize the scent of one of our favorite foods: black olive.  So that had my interest piqued from the get-go.

What delighted us even more, though, was when the aromas emanating from our glasses changed over the course of about 15 minutes… to a bouquet of flowers! 

Honestly, we’ve come across floral scents in white wines fairly often, but a full-on floral bouquet in a red has been totally out of the norm in our experiences.   

There were a lot of dark (and we’re talking Voldemoort dark) berry flavors going on in this one, but they complemented the wine’s flowery qualities excellently.  We also loved the mouthfeel: a little bit tannic and big on fruit, but not that heavy on alcohol — it struck a perfect balance to our tastes.

Where to get it: We bought our bottle at Plumpjack Wines in Noe Valley.  They ship.  You can also find it using the Snooth search function under “Wine Locator” in the right hand column of this page, or by visiting wine-searcher.com or winezap.com.