Rhone Valley wines suit all tastes and budgets
With prices ranging from the prestigious to the everyday, there’s something for all
When people ask me for recommendations for a house wine, I usually try to give them a label that has both red and white wines, and that I am happy to drink myself.
The easiest region for me to name that fills both criteria is the Rhone Valley. From the prestigious Hermitages and Condrieu in the north, down the river to the Cotes du Rhone, Cotes du Rhone Villages, Tavel, all the way to Chateauneuf-du-Pape, the valley is filled with wines with a palate which most of us find familiar.
The key grapes in the reds are Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre. The mix is widely used throughout Australia, where many Canadians started drinking red wine. This provides an easy entry for drinkers, partly because the prices can vary dramatically from the prestigious to the less-so. I know collectors who lust after the Grenache of Gigondas ($40) but also buy Chateauneuf from Clos du Papes for a couple of hundred a bottle. And of course there are normal people buying the wines of Ventoux or Galet for under $15 a bottle.
If you’re still in the under-$15 class of drinker, my favourite pick is La Vieille Ferme (a.k.a. the Chicken wine, although the distributor has noted somewhat testily to me “It’s a rooster! NOT a chicken!”). They have a red, a white and a rosé, and I’ll take a glass of all three any time.
The red is something of a mix of grapes. Carignan and Cinsault are high in the 2014 cepage, with Grenache coming in third. As you’d expect with this mix, it does very well against spicy sauces, and fairly rich dishes like lamb skewers on the barbecue. The bouquet is rich, slightly meaty, with fruit and spices apparent. The palate is filled with dark cherries and blackberries, a nice acidity with a spicy finish of cloves. It isn’t unusual to find a bottle in my closet, and it shouldn’t be a stranger to your storage, either.
Gabriel Meffre is a medium-tolarge vintner that delivers great value for the money, although most of his wines here are from appellations unfamiliar to a lot of people. His wine from the commune in Cairanne (near Vauclos, if that helps) is one of the labelled Cotes du Rhone Villages. This is to say the Rhone Appellation agrees that its wines are significantly different enough to deserve a Villages appellation.
The grapes are primarily Grenache, with some Syrah and Carignan. The colour is a deep purple, the bouquet is spicy, with some fruit and smoke. The palate is elegant. This, perhaps, is the Meffre trademark palate – an everyday wine that is equally at home on a white linen tablecloth.
Domaine del la Mordoree is a comparable wine, a “mere” Cotes du Rhone from near Lirac, I think. (Pat at Co-op believed it was a right bank wine, if I remember correctly. If this is wrong, it is my aged memory at fault, not his.) Again the cepage is dominated by Grenache but they have added a bit of Cinsault to the mix here as well as Syrah and Carignan. The wine is as dark, but the bouquet is fruitier, which may be the result of being a year younger. The palate is juicy, elegant and full of flavours.
All of these wines are wonderful with barbecued meat, spicy sauces and hard cheeses. I recommend them all.