Mercy is the only United States venue to serve Ollieux Romanis 2006 Alicante Bouchet .
We have known about this wine for a very long time, but because it is so special, it is difficult to find. It is rare for us to be able to offer it. Once we knew it was available in the U.S., we immediately made arrangements to buy all 16 cases.
The reaction that we get from someone who is trying it for the first time is usually, 'Wow!,' It is very different, with a lot of unexpected flavors. It's more of a sipping wine because its flavors are so big and powerful. The wine fits perfectly with Mercy's goal of bringing rare and relatively undiscovered wines to Dallas.
Ollieux Romanis, a family-owned vineyard in the South of France, employs traditional methods to produce smooth and elegant wines. Their Alicante Bouchet grapes are grown on 85-year-old vines and create a bold wine with a distinctive olive-based flavor that is followed by hints of rosemary and thyme. The Alicante Bouchet grape is known as a productive fruit with an intense red flesh and juice, and is normally used as a blending grape. Ollieux Romanis is one of very few wineries offering Alicante Bouchet as a varietal.
Vincent Havard
