Domaine des Combes - AOC St Chinian

A small (tiny) producer making wine out of his garage, only one red wine is produced and we tasted 3 different vinages, all of which had their own good points. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of wine offered here, for just about 5 Euros. The 2001 was full and slightly porty in taste, lots of Carignan in the blend, but really well made and delicious, the 2002 was perhaps his best alround wine, managing to balance both fruit and acidity to create a wine of some style and poise at a price that you really can't complain about - I just wish I'd bought more so I could bring some home! The 2003 as the youngest wine, and surprisingly was also the worst wine on offer - I fully expected this to be the biggest, most powerful wine, yet it seemed to me that something somewhere had gone wrong in the harvest the wine was far too green and vegetal - perhaps the grapes were picked too early because of the heat, or perhaps there was a great deal of uneven ripening - the flesh may have become fully ripe - but the pips inside remained green and unripe giving the finished wine some unpleasant aftertastes.
As opposed to the standard St. Chinian branded tasting glasses, the wines here were served in peculiar little glasses, that one could only describe as tiny wine thimbles - perhaps better for a non aromatic spirit rather than a wine tasting - still it just added to the overall feel of a place where a bloke made wine, was good at making wine, but the rest of it he struggled with!