$10 Tuesday: White Côtes du Rhône

We've had this label before in a Rosé and been quite pleased with it so we thought what the heck, let's try the white.

Le Pas de la Beaume
White Côtes du Rhône

Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 13.5%
Grapes: Grenache Blanc (65%), Clairette (20%), Marsanne (15%)
Price: ~$10

Aromas: Green apple, honeydew, tropical fruit
Flavors: Green apple, lemon, mineral, butter
Acidity: moderate
Sweetness: ultra-dry
Mouthfeel: round

On the nose is crisp green apple, honeydew, and something tropical--like starfruit. But, it could be that I just have starfruit on the brain because dhonig said it...(have I ever even had starfruit?) The flavor is quite starkly mineral, with a rather incongruous buttery finish and, as one observer put it, it is "dryer than a cork." This is a food wine, and does have adequate acidity to serve that purpose.

I don't know, I wasn't all that inspired by this one. It's a decent good table wine that goes well with food, but I don't have much to say about it. I know people who like this wine. I think I prefer the Rosé. I couldn't remember having a Grenache Blanc before but, checking back, I see indeed we have, and it seems we enjoyed that one a bit more.

$10 Tuesday: Perrin Côtes du Rhône

Perrin Reserve
Red Côtes du Rhône

Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 13%
Grapes: Grenache (60%), Syrah (20%), Mourvedre & Cinsault (10%)
Price: ~$9

Aromas: Bramble, wet stone, garrigue, violet, pepper, raspberry
Flavors: Cherry, orange, coffee, pepper
Acidity: moderate
Mouthfeel: suede


Summary: This is great everyday table wine with plenty of CdR character. The great thing about a cheap Côtes du Rhône is it has so much more interest than a similarly priced mass produced new world wine. It is not as plush and may take some getting used to if you are accustomed to something more homogenized but, I really recommend getting out of your comfort zone and trying something like this with a meal. Personally, I find a lot of the mass produced wines give me heartburn, whereas, a wine like this has the opposite effect. Overall, this is a pleasant, not overly complex or bold wine with a velvety peppery finish.
You can read more about the 2006 harvest over at Beaucastel Blog.

$10 Tuesday: Red Côtes du Ventoux

The Côtes du Ventoux AOC is located in the southeastern region of the region of the Rhône wine region of France. The geology has limestone soils giving the wines a good mineral balance and lighter touch.

Red wines are made from, Syrah, Cinsault, Mourvèdre, and Carignan (maximum 30%). White wines are produced from Clairette, Bourboulenc, and Grenache Blanc, and a maximum 30% Roussane. There is an interesting article about the 2000 years of wine production history on the Côtes du Ventoux website.

The wines from this region are made to be enjoyed young. This one is four years old, purchased past its pundit declared prime of 2007. How did it do? Is it past its prime?

Côtes du Ventoux AOC
Chapelle St. Arnoux

Vintage: 2004
Alcohol: 14%
Price: $10.00

Color: Ruby
Intensity: Deep
Aromas: Blackberry, cherry, plum, earth, slight smoked meat
Flavors: Cherry, raspberry, blackberry, cherry, plum, earth, stuck flint, anise, oak, coffee, cassis, sandalwood, black pepper
Body: Full
Acidity: Moderate
Sweetness: Dry
Tannins: Suede
Finish: Long

Summary: Very long finish starting with the fruit flavors working to an earthy-spicy taste. The tannins have mellowed out a bit leaving a very pleasant feel. This wine was supposed to be past its prime? I think we caught it before it declined. No, it doesn’t taste young. It is very enjoyable, maybe a little mellower than in its younger day, but I’m thoroughly enjoying it. This has a good enough tannin structure to hold up. If you got one in the back of the cellar, pull it out and enjoy it right now.


This will go well with anything; a good hard cheese, grilled meats and veggies, Mediterranean food, or a darn good cheeseburger made with sharp cheddar cheese. Try some dark chocolate too.

$10 Tuesday: White Cotes du Rhone

We've been on the prowl for some good ten dollar wines, and this week's selection is an interesting wine with, an arguably even more interesting website. I knew nothing about this producer when I selected the M. Chapoutier Belleruche other than that it was Côtes du Rhône, and there was Braille on the label. I thought there was probably a story there but, the main selling point was the ten dollar price tag.

It turns out that the Braille has special significance due to the historical connection to Maurice Monier de La Sizeranne, the inventor of the first version of abbreviated Braille. Under a tab labeled "Convictions," we also learn that M. Chapoutier adheres to a "demanding" biodynamic cultivation method.

M. Chapoutier Belleruche Vin Blanc

Vintage: 2007
Appellation: Côtes du Rhône
Grape Varieties: hand-harvested White Grenache, Clairette and Bourboulenc
Alcohol: 13.5%
Price: $10-$12
Aromas: Pear, melon, pineapple, citrus zest
Flavors: mineral, citrus, apple

Summary: Pleasant aromas give way to a nicely balanced wine with full mouthfeel and clean acidity. During dinner, I kept finding my glass empty, and I also noticed that I was refilling it often. Yes, this is a refreshing and tasty wine. All this for ten bucks? How do they do it?!

Dogtown, WBW #50

This is a being posted simultaneously on SMU

For those reading in on Shooting My Universe, Wine Blogging Wednesday is a monthly tradition where wine bloggers all over the world blog on the same topic. Our WBW host this month Russ, from Winehiker Wititculture wants us to come up with a hike and a matching wine for this month's Wine Blogging Wednesday.

On Harry Chapin’s first album Heads and Tails, he had a song Dogtown. Dogtown is an actual location in Gloucester Massachusetts. Harry liked to write songs that told stories. Taxi, Cat’s in the Cradle, Mr. Tanner, Thirty Thousand Pounds of Bananas just to name a couple.

Well, Dogtown is a song about a woman who is widowed in Gloucester and it gives a little history about the area. I didn't understand the song when I first heard it, but when I rediscovered it after moving to Gloucester, I had an epiphany.

Today, Dogtown is set aside for a watershed and for hiking, horseback riding and biking. You can read about this interesting chunk of land on the Dogtown Massachusetts page on Wikipedia.org.

During the depression, a man named Roger Babson commissioned out of work stone cutters to carve inscriptions in rocks in Dogtown. These have become known as Babson Rocks.

I’m still clearing out the effects of the flu that hit me last Friday. My sensory capabilities are not up to speed yet. I had a wonderful Heitz wine picked out for this posting, but we’re saving it for when my nose isn’t in a sling and my tongue isn’t on crutches. I do have a wine that I bought two bottles of last January. I’m going to have a glass while I sort through some photos I took in Dogtown.

Domaine Le Pigeonnier 2005
Côtes du Rhône
Alcohol: 13%
Price: $9.29
Color: Deep Ruby-Purple
Grapes: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre


You can read about Domaine Le Pigeonnier 2005 on our earlier post.

WBW #48 - Going Back to my Roots.

Taster B usually handles the WBW, but I couldn’t resist doing one of my own. In the wine store, we were trying to decide what to buy. California Chardonnay seemed to be a common ground, but I cut my teeth before the influence of oak. Taster B was reaching for something buttery.

My thoughts were that going back to my wine roots may be like being like going back to high school. I've moved on to bigger and better things. Besides, the only time I go back to my high school is in a bad dream where I usually find myself in math class unprepared for the final exam and I’ve blown off all semester. But going back to my wine roots may be philosophically easier than going back to high school.

In my wine youth, I wasn’t married to a particular style of wine. It just had to be affordable for a graduate student living on a few hundred per month. I didn’t like cheap wine, but I did have a jug of Carlo Rossi Chablis in the fridge at all times. This was mainly for cooking chicken, white pasta sauces and worked well as a marinade with ginger.

I liked good wine and became a master scrounge with an eye for good wine at good prices. So, I could have chosen Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rosé de Anjou, Chardonnay, Chablis, Chianti (in fiascos of course). What to choose? We have lots of Cabs and Merlots already. I did find a Chianti in a fiasco, but I wasn't about to pay $14.00 for bad chianti.

I really had my heart set on going to the basic foundation of my wine experience; Catawba from New York State. But that is like finding a needle in a hay stack. I did find a wine that is close to one of my early wine experiences when my mother and I shared a half bottle of Rosé de Anjou at a restaurant some 25 years ago.



We sourced this wine from Ceres Street Wind Merchants, a store famous for carrying wines that are true to type.

Terrasses
Château Pesquié

Vintage: 2007
Blend: 50% Cinsault, 40% Grenache, 10% Syrah
AVA: Rhone Valley
Alcohol: 13%
Price: $14.99

Color: Scarlet
Intensity: Pale
Aromas: Strawberry, cranberry, kiwi, wet stone, lavender, rose
Flavors: Strawberry, cranberry, pomegranate, citrus zest
Body: light
Acidity: Moderately crisp
Sweetness: Dry
Finish: Moderate

Summary: This is a summertime wine. The back of the bottle says Tasting 45 deg F, Aged 2 years. This has me a little confused as the labeled vintage is 2007. This is a nice dry Rosé that is bright. As the wine warmed up in the glass, there were hints of floral and zest notes. Not overly complex, but definitely refreshing fruit qualities. It stood up well to sun dried tomato and gorgonzola ravioli with red sauce. I thought that it would get lost, but it held its own.

After the glass was emptied and sat for a while, I decided to give it a sniff; rose, unmistakable rose.


The great thing about Rosé is that it will stand up to spicier dishes and be gentle enough for poultry. In the summer, I would serve this with shrimp, pork, brie, lentil salad, salmon, smoked oysters, clams, lobster, crab, anything vegetarian, baked haddock sandwich, squid, rack of lamb…I could go on and on.

Burgers and Côtes du Rhône Red

Burgers are a rare treat in our house, but tonight we indulged in a couple of big juicy burgers with caramelized onions on St. Joseph's rolls--and yes, they were rare, and all the better for being made from local grass-fed beef. Of course, we could have had them with beer but, as I said, this was a special meal and called for a little more thoughtful pairing. Definitely a red, but nothing too heavy. A Côtes du Rhône Grenache/Syrah blend fit the bill.

Louis Bernard 2006
Côtes du Rhône
Alcohol: 13.5%
Price: $11.99
Color: Plum
Intensity: Dark
Aromas: Blackberry, smoked meat, anise, coffee, garrigue
Flavors: Black currant, chokecherry, prune, anise, allspice, tobacco
Body: Full
Acidity: Moderate
Finish: Long

Wine Spectator usually rates this producer in the 86-87 range but don't let that deter you from trying it. Wines under 90 points are inexpensive and are often a steal compared to their higher-priced >90 point counterparts.

This wine benefits from at least 45 minutes of decanting to let the aromas open up (just don't let it get too warm). The flavor is fruity on the front-end, and quickly progresses to a dusty tobacco/spice/blackberry finish. It was a good pairing with our meal: Enough panache to complement our flavorful burgers but, casual enough to drink with burgers and fries. Gretchen over at Everyday Wine found this wine also pairs well with bleu cheese. This wine is a solid value at $11.99.

Read more about why grass-fed beef is better.

A Real Crowd Pleaser

I don't throw backyard parties but, if I did, I'd probably buy a case of this wine to serve to my guests. For one thing, it's too hot right now to be drinking red wine, and at seven bucks a bottle, this wine is very budget friendly. It's pleasant for sipping with it's apricot and nutmeg aromas and citrus/cranberry flavors, and is easy-pairing for a wide variety of foods.
Our first meal with this Côtes du Rhône Le Pas de la Beaume Rosé 2005 was a delicious pasta primavera. Our Rosé performed beautifully; at the same time sturdy (like a red) and refreshing (like a white). The next night, we had it again with a Phở-inspired rice noodle bowl with fresh veggies, basil, and Clay Pot Pork--another nice pairing. This Rosé isn't just a great party wine, it's a great summer 'red.'

WBW #46: Two Inexpensive Rhône Whites

Dr. Debs picked this month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday theme with summer in mind. We decided to try two inexpensive Rhône whites since that was what was available.

The first selection was Parallèle “45” 2006 and here are excerpts from our wine selection process for your consumer habits study:

Taster A: “Oh, that’s half way to the North Pole…”
Taster B: “Yeah, that’s two degrees north of us—we should try it.”


Grapes: 50% Grenache Blanc, 20% Marsanne, 20% Viognier, 10% Bourboulenc. This wine was all about the zest: Lime zest…grapefruit zest…pith. While it had some tropical hints this isn’t a wine that I’d sip on the patio—it needs to be consumed with food. When it comes to wine and food pairings, occasionally we find a wine doesn’t work at all with a particular dish; most of the time it’s just neutral (neither competing with nor enhancing the meal); and then, every once in a while, we get lucky…

In Parallèle “45” we find an ideal pairing for pesto. The wine brought out dimensions of nuttiness in the pesto that were not present in the absence of this particular wine. Our second Rhône white was an acceptable match with the pesto, but didn’t exhibit the dynamic ‘greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts’ reaction with the dish. I will definitely seek this bottle out again when planning a summer pesto meal. It’s one of those rare matches made in heaven.

Our second selection, E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône Blanc 2005, was less about the zest. We found some pleasant aromas of pear, lychee, lemon, marzipan and orange blossom. Conversely, the first taste of this wine smarts a bit. It’s very dry and mineral with grapefruit on the palate…Can’t say I was overly fond of it at first but, we hauled it out again for a meal of poached haddock seasoned with lemon, tarragon, and marjoram. Suddenly, this ugly duckling became a graceful swan. I get so caught up in the habit of ‘tasting’ wine that I forget to drink it sometimes. This is a drinking wine--it wants to be swallowed because of how it feels on the back of the tongue.

To get an idea of how remarkable this wine was paired with our seafood dish, just recall the driest most spartan wine you ever tasted. We’re talking about the kind of wine that puts a tiny vise on every taste bud and thumbscrews on both sides of your tongue. Now imagine this same wine, by virtue of the meal beside it, magically becoming buttery and rich. Can this really happen with a $12 table wine? I’m here to tell you it can.

Once paired with food, subtle flavors of melon began to emerge. At one point, the distinct aroma of fresh cut green grass opened up on the nose.

Thanks to Dr. Debs for hosting and picking this month’s theme for WBW. These wines reminded me of why I started this blog: Not just to post an endless stream of predictable tasting notes but, to relate an experience with a wine that was totally unexpected, or one that reminds me of a basic principal I knew once but had forgotten, or both.

Côtes du Rhône Rocks

Who's with me? I love this stuff. Tonight we opened a bottle of Côtes du Rhône Rubis 2005 which we picked up after a Rhone Tasting at Gordon's in Waltham, Mass.

I was reading a post on Tom Wark's blog today where he was comparing wine evaluation to music preferences; in essence making the point that wine appreciation, like art appreciation, is subjective. I would go a step further and say that beyond just being subjective from one individual to the next, our personal reaction is volatile too. Just as a song may send chills up your spine the first time you listen to it, but not the second time, wine can come at you in a lot of different ways as this wine did.

So, here are the official 'objectively' written tasting notes:

Aromas: Cherry, cassis, blackberry, rosemary, violet, mint
Flavors: Cassis, cherry, rosemary, cedar, olive

Summary: Nice supple fruit on the nose is rounded out with garrigue garnish. Fruit hits the tip of your tongue and turns to chewy herbal flavors on the mid-palate with medium body. Medium long finish with hints of cedar and tobacco.

...and here is the review I twittered earlier this evening which is more or less an impressionistic snapshot of an aesthetic moment which occurred in the midst of an hour long interaction with this wine (IOW, how I would paint this wine with words):

Smells like grape jelly on baked red earth from Taos, w/ orange zest & granulated garlic. Tastes like thorny rose & BBQd lavendar. BAM!

Either way, great wine and spectacular value at $12.99.

Lavender Fields and Pudding Stones: Tasting Côtes du Rhône

Tasting Tour of the Rhône
Last weekend we went to a Rhône Tasting at Gordon’s in Waltham, MA. We meet up with fellow bloggers Richard from A Passionate Foodie who had a group from his North Shore Winers club there, and Cathy from 365 Days of Wine. Both Richard and Cathy have posted write-ups about the region and the wines that you should check out. To start us off, our tour guide Nick Cobb shared with us his sentimental attachment to Châteauneuf du Pape: This was the wine served in the home he grew up in. This was his first experience of what wine tasted like, and his sentimentality has translated into a real passion and appreciation for the area.

Global Warming and the New Châteauneuf du Pape
The Côtes du Rhône is a low-lying plain region bordered to the South by the Mediterranean and to the West and East by mountains. The premise of the flight of nine wines was to illustrate the different ways that vintners are handling the effects of Global Warming (increased average temperature) in the wines of the region. We were shown a variety of handlings for undoing the effects of higher temps, culminating with the '05 Domaine de Deurre Vinsobres which is, according to our host, the best example of what Châteauneuf du Pape was 40 years ago. The Domaine de Deurre Vinsobres is a blend of 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 10% Mourvèdre. The vineyard is located between Nyons and Vinsobres which is getting up into the hills a bit and is more northerly than Orange and Châteauneuf du Pape where the majority of the wines we tasted were being produced. Pair the location with the use of Grenache as the primary grape in the blend, rather than the more traditional Syrah which has not behaved as well with the increased temperatures, and you have a wine that Cobb’s grandfather would have recognized as Châteauneuf du Pape. On the nose were black cherry, marigold, lavender, animali, and blackberry. The flavors gave way to olive and more cherry. The image that flashed while tasting this wine was ruby slippers.

The Heat is On
From here we began looking at the other side of wine-making in the Rhône: The Traditionalists making wine the way it’s always been made and allowing the wine to express less traditional attributes brought on by the change in climate such as bigger fruit and higher alcohol. The next wine we tasted was noticeably higher in alcohol: 15% to be precise. Which leads to an interesting question: When it comes to historical wine-making regions, how are the Old World traditions maintained? Is it done by adapting technique to the climate so as to produce a wine that possesses the greatest quantity of qualities in common with its predecessors? Or is it done by sticking with traditional methods, and letting the wine express new characteristics that were not traditionally an aspect of the wines of the region? Clearly, the wine-makers of the Côtes du Rhône have answered this question differently.

Traditional Technique vs. Traditional Result (AKA: Old World vs. Old World (?))
Most of the wines showcased were fermented in stainless or cement. Only three of the wines were in contact with wood, and only one of those in regular oak barrels, the other two being aged in foudres which are too large an investment to replace regularly. Obviously, stainless steel is not a traditional wine-containment material. Cement is a little closer in that it is similar to carving a tank out of rock. Cobb mentioned sites he’d been to while a wine-maker in Greece where such ancient pits are still used in traditional wine making: They just throw the whole grapes into the ground and come back two weeks later. An interesting point was made about the difference between using oak in the utilitarian sense of simple wine-containment device as opposed to using oak as flavor which is decidedly New World. While some historic wine growing regions had little access to wood and relied on earthenware or other vessels, there is certainly a long history of wooden wine containers. The difference is that the wood is rarely new in traditional applications. The last wine of the flight, an ‘05 Patrick Lesec Châteauneuf du Pape did see barrel aging but was not over-oaked, was well balanced, and fruity. After 8 unoaked subtle wines, it may not have been a fair match to suddenly flip the switch to this more intense wine, which I feel may have shown more nuance on it’s own than it did in this line up.

Thanks to Gordon’s and to Nick Cobb for this fascinating look at a changing region which also happens to be the oldest wine growing region in France.

Liking the Cheap French Wine '05

It felt like it was time to take the plunge last weekend and buy a bottle of French wine we knew nothing about. Well, not nothing: I new 2005 was a good vintage. So, we picked up a bottle of $9 Cotes du Rhone. Turns out this AOC is known for turning out good quality inexpensive wines so, we did okay. There was also a bit of serendipity involved: Taster A was standing right next to the display when the merchandising message for the 2005 Cotes du Rhone came over the loud-speaker. I mean, that kind of thing just doesn't happen every day.


I wasn't expecting such a fruity wine. The aromas and flavors both smack of cherry, raspberry, and blueberry which is another nice surprise: The nose and flavors are actually very well aligned. I also get random whiffs ranging from molasses to licorice in this wine.
Floating on top of the fruit like a thin film is a light earthy/chalky aroma. The pores of the wine give off spice--cumin to black pepper (reminds me of an old roommate of mine). The spice and toast kind of meld into a moist cigar kind of thing.

This is a dry wine (which is to be expected) and with the cigar aroma, I actually got the physical sensation of smoke in my lungs.

Now for some of my wonderful made-up bogus food pairings: Beef Wellington comes to mind. Also spanakopita.

Overall, a well-balanced wine. Not overly complex but fine for $9 I should think.

Domaine Le Pigeonnier 2005
Côtes du Rhône
Alcohol: 13%
Price: $9.29
Color: Deep Ruby-Purple
Grapes: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre

Addendum: Former enthusiasm notwithstanding, this puppy went flat within 5 days of being opened...