Exploring Rhone Wines (and one idea to eat with the wine)

_{© Terroir-France, French Wine Guide 2010}



I can't tell you how many times I've been in the wine store (usually the Gourmet Shop in Columbia, SC) and watch folks wander through the sections on French wine with a deer in the headlight look. They don't know what they are looking at so they don't know what to buy. Americans are spoiled by American wine labels (NOT the wine). Most American wines are single grape wines (or varietal wines) such as Merlot, Cabernet Savignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and increasingly, Syrah. So it is pretty easy to put the name of the grape on the label. So you had a bottle of wine from California that was a syrah and you liked it. Finding one from America can be as easy as wandering through the section on American wines and look for the syrah on the label.

But what if you want a syrah from France? You start looking in the French wine section. To your dismay, the labels read: Cote Rotie, Hermitage, St Joseph, Cotes du Rhone, Gigondas etc. The prices range from over $300.00 down to $15.00 and nowhere does it say syrah or any grape for that matter.

Still want that syrah? Well.... your getting warm.

Welcome to the Rhone Valley of France.

A lot of the wine in France is a blend of different grapes but there are two notable wine producing regions that produce red wine where only a single grape is used. One area is the Northern Rhone valley and that grape is syrah.

Looking at the maps at the top you will notice that the northern appellation is located tightly along the Rhone river while the southern Rhone appellation is spread out. This because the banks of the Rhone River in the north are hills that are quite steep and the best wines from the Northern Rhone, Cote Rotie and Hermitage are grown on these steep hills. These wines are some of the most expensive Rhone wines and are also the most age-worthy. In order of least expensive to most expensive the reds of the North are:

Croze-Hermitage
St. Joseph
Cornas
Hermitage
Cote Rotie

For my money the best value in the north is St Joseph

So, if the wines of the north are 100% syrah, what about the wines of the south?

The southern rhone produces, by volume more wine than any other part of France. From the top of the heap: Chateauneuf du Pape all the way to Cotes du Luberon, the Southern Rhone valley which is also the heart of Provence, is awash in wine and unlike their ritzy cousins to the north, these wines are all blends of grapes. Predominately grenache blended with our northern friend syrah followed by mourvedre. There are other varieties such as cinsault that are used but grenache is number one followed by syrah.

The biggest appelation in the southern rhone is Cotes du Rhone. When you see Cotes du Rhone you know you will be buying an easy to drink red (and some white) at a good value (under $20.00) that is mainly consumed young but some of the better ones can age 10 or more years.

The heavyweights in the south are the Chateauneuf du Pape. They are the most complex and the most expensive. Next on the expense chart will be Gigondas.

The best buy however, are the Cotes du Rhone Village wines. Cotes du Rhone Village wines are Cotes du Rhone blends but must meet more stringent requirements for vinification. They are a higher quality than regular Cotes du Rhone but not that much more expensive. Look for these wines as the best mix of taste and cost.

OK. Your have your wine, now what do eat with it?

Well it's red so you think beef but beef in Provence is not easy to fine and usually not very good BUT LAMB!!! Provence is know for it's lamb especially from the village of Sisteron. So sure you can have the usual suspects you would eat with red wine but I would go with lamb and here is an easy way to do it.

Get a boneless leg of lamb and ask the butcher to butterfly it for you so it is a relatively flat piece of meat. Then simply marinate it in Italian salad dressing and a couple of rosemary sprigs and smashed garlic cloves. Marinate for several hours in the fridge then take it out and allow it to get to room temperature. Cook it on the grill to rare or medium rare. Let it sit covered for 10 minutes and carve.

As Susan's friend Sam would ask: "You got any sides with that"? Well yes such as oven roasted potatoes, sauteed asparagus....you get the idea. (Remind me for a great recipe for a marinade for grilling asparagus).

I finish this as Karen and I finish off the tomato sauce and pasta I fixed Monday (sauces are always better as leftovers) I'll send along the tomato sauce recipe later it is fabulous and easy. Oh yes....I'm, courtesy of Jean Pierre Chambas, washing it down with a 1998 Cotes du Rhone Village; Domaine de Cabasse from Seguret. As I said, these wines are clearly capable of aging. The problem is you can't find them outside of my basement (more on my basement/cellar/cave later).

OK....you can now go to the wine shop and know what a Rhone wine is. That's the good news. The bad news is you still won't be able to tell a Bordeaux Cab from a Bordeaux Merlot from simply looking at the label but stay tuned.....we will solve this problem in due time.