Admittedly, we are comparing the top wine and the entry level wine of this Languedoc estate which isn't really logical, but it doesn’t matter. Actually it’s not really comparing in a quality sense, but maybe just seeing how far of a way the older one has come.

2000 Château de Lascaux – Cuvée Nobles Pierres (AOC Pic Saint Loup): Dark and slightly blurry colour. Nose shows heavy age note at first, contrasting with still lots of fruit on the palate. But after an hour things change rapidly and the bouquet shows nicely with dark berries perfume and some subtle black tea notes. This only holds for a certain time though. Later a nail polish smell appears and becomes more and more intense. The palate shows fruit and still has a big backbone of astringent tannins. Nevertheless a certain impression of balance takes the lead with dense aromatics and an elegant acidity underneath. But also on the palate nail polish starts to show after a while. Finish and length are quite satisfying. All in all the wine is nicely drinkable albeit it shows a bit scattered sometimes. But the impression the wine has passed its drinking optimum prevails.

2007 Château de Lascaux (AOC Côteaux du Languedoc): Youth is evident in this one. Bright and shiny, yet dark color. A basket of red and black berry fruit in the nose. Medium bodied on the palate. Again fruit in the first place, rather small dose of tannins. There isn’t much complexity in this one but it isn’t meant to be such a wine; rather a casual pleasure wine with sun and landscape in each sip.

Well both wines are not really comparable again. What I got out of this is basically that I overestimated the ageing ability of the first bottle. I was certain back then that top wines from the Languedoc would peak after 10 years. Now I guess for this one it’s rather after 5 to 7 years of age where it performed best. But I still believe in Languedoc wines of course. I have a few the same age in the cellar and hope some of them will reassure me.