Wine Recs - France
What? Chateau La Nerthe Les Cassagnes Cotes du Rhone Villages 2017/18; $21.99!
Why? This wine is going to fulfill that weightier than Pinot red we are all craving in the midst of winter. It’s an incredible value. I bought it for just over $20 and when I took my first sip, it stopped me dead in my tracks. Silk. From start to finish the wine has the most incredible balance. I found this as a recommendation from Karen MacNeill, author of The Wine Bible. She describes it as a ‘pajamas by the fire’ kind of wine that you just want to keep sipping. It tastes like a $40-50 bottle.
Where? It’s a Cotes du Rhone Villages (region of France) made up of 60% Grenache, 30% Syrah, and 10% Mourvedre (grapes). This is a signature blend from the Rhone region of France and is also mirrored in parts of Australia as well as Paso Robles, California. Grenache adds the fruity component while Syrah makes up the weighty backbone. In my opinion, Grenache and Syrah make up one of the finest marriages in the wine world. Enjoy!
How? You can buy on wine.come. Click link at bottom. I am an affiliate with them. Every time you click the icon and buy from my site, you’ll be supporting Blessings in a Backpack, a local program that provides meals on weekends to kids that might otherwise go hungry. Thanks for supporting my selections!
I’m sitting in the park with my sister yesterday, who has a fantastic palate, and she expresses her craving for medium bodied reds that have a bit more weight than Pinot. Our palates crave more substance in the midst of winter. Even a California winter. We are all wondering where to buy wine these days. She’s wondering where and how to find this weightier than Pinot option that is still a good value and won’t give her a headache the next day. Endless options via grocery stores, online commerce, specialty shops. We know that after sipping some wines we feel fine but others we have a slight hangover even with just one glass consumed. And some of those headache wines come from premier regions like Napa Valley. So some of us only shop wines that are ‘made with organic grapes’, have ‘no added sulfites’, produced with ‘indigenous yeasts’, no added sugars, or are low in alcohol so that they appear to be more natural. Should you look for wines that meet this entire criteria? You could. But you also might miss out on some other gems that come from a sustainable farming practice and minimal intervention in the cellar. Some intervention might still be necessary. There really isn’t an easy answer here. In some cases, indigenous yeasts don’t make sense. In some cases, a wine is practicing organic but the road to becoming certified is too costly or complicated. Champagne is one of the most amazing wine regions in the world… chaptalization… some added sugar… is a thing there. Balance. Where are the vineyards? Who is producing? What is the story? I want the story. Is it smaller production to where someone can actually have a handle on the winemaking without producing coca cola wine? I read a lot. I have a few experts that I’ve followed since the start of my wine career. I have a few national distributors I follow as well since I love their selections. That’s how I found La Nerthe. More to come, friends…
