Tag Archives: Domaine Tariquet

Wine of the week: Domaine Tariquet Classic 2019

domaine tariquet
Domaine Tariquet Classic 2019/$10-$12

Scores be damned – the Tariquet remains one of the world’s great cheap wines

All you need to know about this vintage of one of the great cheap wines in the history of wine is that it averaged 64 points on CellarTracker, the blog’s unofficial wine inventory app.

That kind of score means the 2019 Domaine Tariquet is undrinkable, which also means it’s worse than every Big Wine supermarket sweet red blend; every mass-produced, 7-Up-style fizzy, faux sparkling wine; and every 15.5 percent, baseball bat fermented chardonnay.

And which also means there is more for me. So maybe the 64 points is a good thing after all.

This version of the Tariquet ($12, purchased, 13%), a French white blend from Gascony, is hardly undrinkable. It’s as it always is – a blend of three grapes, only one of which is well known and two of which (ugni blanc and colombard) are usually held in wine snob contempt.

The wine is clean and fresh, and stunningly well made. I left an open bottle in the refrigerator for a week, and it was just as enjoyable seven days later as it was when I unscrewed it. This vintage has more citrus fruit, though there is still plenty of the white grape juiciness that sets the Tariquet apart from even the best of the Gascon white blends.

Highly recommended, as always, and just the wine to set us up for the next two days on the blog – the announcements of 2022’s Cheap Wine of the Year and Hall of Fame.

Imported by Frederick Wildman and Sons

Welcome back, Domaine Tariquet

domaine tariquetDomaine Tariquet’s 2018 vintages are top-notch and well-worth buying – once again, some of the world’s great cheap wines

The Wine Curmudgeon admits he was worried – would Domaine Tariquet, one of the all-time great cheap wines, still be terrific on its return from importer exile?

Of course. How could I have doubted? This is, after the all, the only cheap wine ever honored with a sonnet.

If anything, the four wines that were sold in the U.S. before the producer lost its importer in 2018 are even a little better than before. The white blend and the rose were always top notch, but the chardonnay and the sauvignon blanc – often inconsistent – are much improved.

Here’s a look at each of the wines, made in France’s Gascony region. There’s also a new one, a sweetish, riesling-style white. The wines are imported by Frederick Wildman & Sons; all are highly recommended:

• Domaine Tariquet Classic 2018 ($10, sample, 10.5%): Fresh, crisp, and low in alcohol – how often does that happen? This vintage’s fruit is a little more lemon-lime than white grapey, but that’s just the wine geek in me. Buy a couple of cases of this white blend, keep them chilled, and enjoy.

• Domaine Tariquet Chardonnay 2018 ($10, sample, 12.5%): This was probably the best of the three whites, which is saying something since it was usually boring and could even be a little off. But this vintage was crisp and aromatic, with almost green apple and a little tropical fruit. If anything, it sort of tasted like chardonnay from France’s Macon, which is always a touchstone of inexpensive quality.

• Domaine Tariquet Sauvignon 2018 ($10, sample, 11.5%): Much better than past vintages, which tended to taste like New Zealand kockoffs. This time, though, the wine had a bit of a grassy aroma, not too much citrus, and a certain Gascon fruitiness.

• Domaine Tariquet Rose 2018 ($10, sample, 12.5%): This pink wine is dry but not Provencal in style. Look for darker fruit, less zippiness on the finish, and a little heft in the mouth. But it’s not heavy so that it’s a rose for red wine drinkers, and so sits somewhere between the Bieler Provencal rose and the Charles & Charles from Washington state.

• Domaine Tariquet Les Premières Grives 2018 ($17, sample, 11.5%): Professionally sweet, with an almost honeyed finish and mostly balanced. It’s a different and interesting wine, in the style of a German just-sweet riesling like a kabinett. The only question: Is it worth $17?

More about Domaine Tariquet:
• Domaine Tariquet returns to the U.S.
• Domaine Tariquet loses U.S. importer
• Wine to drink when the air conditoner is replaced

Cheap wine fans rejoice: Domaine Tariquet returns to the U.S.

domaine tariquet
Who cares about the missing “du?” We’re just glad the Domaine Tariquet is back.

Top importer Wildman picks up Domaine Tariquet, and it should be available in most of the country

Our too long cheap wine nightmare is over: Domaine Tariquet, one of the best cheap wine producers ever, has a new U.S. importer and its products could be on store shelves by late spring or early summer. Even better, the importer, Frederick Wildman & Sons, is big enough so that it works with the largest distributors in the country. Hence, the wines should be available almost everywhere in the U.S.

Tariquet, located in Gascony in France, disappeared last July, when its then importer dropped the brand. No one was talking about what happened, even off the record, but the result was that we’ve gone without the label’s flagship Tariquet Classic for almost a year – a painful loss at any time, but especially painful in these days of overpriced and underperforming cheap wine.

The Tariquet Classic, a white blend made with ugni blanc and colombard, is everything great cheap wine should be – fresh, fruity, dry, crisp, and low in alcohol. Its success here paved the way for a host of Gascon wines to shine in the U.S. The Classic, plus four other Tariquet wines (including a very nice rose) is in the Wildman warehouse in New York and listed on the Wildman website. Wildman’s John Little said orders are already coming in from across the country.

Even better news: There won’t be a price increase, which had been talked about last summer if and when the wine returned. That means the Classic should still cost $10 to $12.

Finally, the Grassa family, which owns Tariquet, shortened the brand’s name. This version is Domaine Tariquet; it was Domaine du Tariquet under the previous importer.