Man I love this wine. I had to restrain myself every night from finishing the bottle. Several glasses would disappear before I had to forcibly remove the bottle from my sight so I wouldn't keep refilling my glass. This Cotes du Rhone Villages AOC wine is a blend of 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 10% Carignan and clocks in at 13% alcohol. I paid $11 for it, and it's a steal.
In appearance, the wine had shades of light purple on the edges. A quick sniff shortly after opening it gave way to scents to barnyard funk, including a new rubber component. This faded slightly over the next few days and while still present, the nose had a sweeter smell. I wrote down "maple syrup followed by sweet cherries" the third night I had this wine.
In the glass, the wine seemed a bit flat at first, but opened up nicely with some time, and presenting layers of sour cherries, violets and a bit of bark.
This is a great sipper, a wine that goes down easy and impresses you the whole time. It's not overweight with alcohol or oak, and I wonder how much time, if any, it spent in barrels. There's a website on the bottle, but it doesn't say much beyond what's on the label, so I can't tell for sure about how this wine was produced.
This wine would go great with many different plates, though something lighter in fare would match best. My best match up was a sautéed chicken with olives, capers and roasted lemons dish served on a bed of sauteed baby spinach. (Recipe from Food & Wine magazine).
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