Wines I'm Drinking: Simple Pleasures--2010 Terre de Mistral Côtes du Rhône

I picked up a bottle of the 2010 Terre de Mistral Côtes du Rhône at my local Grocery Outlet for only $3.99 today ($3.49 a bottle if you buy it by the case). Pepper, menthol, and blackberries are the most obvious scents on the nose of this simple, inexpensive, but brazenly seductive little wine from the south of France. I wasn't expecting too much and I can't say this is profound or deeply nuanced wine, but it's nicely balanced, well made--full of berry and vanilla flavors. It's simply overflowing with ripe fruit, which makes it far too easy to drink too much of. Beware. Recommended for everyday drinking. I'll be going back for more.

(I have no financial connection with any producer or retailer of wine.) 

Wines I'm Drinking: 2007 Cellier des Chartreaux "Chevalier d'Anthelme" Côtes du Rhône

Always on the lookout for a good Côtes du Rhône, I tried this example from my local Grocery Outlet. Brief tasting notes follow.

A nice, deep, plummy red. Vaguely suggestive of cassis on the nose, at least at first. Some meaty scents. Later began to suggest vanilla and violets. Fairly dry and tannic initially on the palate, but rather light-bodied at the same time. Has a little fruity sweetness on the mid-palate, but the flavors fall off fairly rapidly--at least that was my first impression: With a little time and with food, this began to seem more interesting, gaining a little presence. Eventually it acquired a nice peppery scent, suggestive of Syrah. Not of any special interest, perhaps, but typical Côtes du Rhône and fairly priced at only $5.99 a bottle at my local Grocery Outlet (Santa Rosa, California). Although, I probably won't go back for more, this is decent, everyday wine.

Wines I'm Drinking: 1998 Château Mont-Redon Côtes du Rhône

Opened my last bottle of 1998 Château Mont-Redon Côtes du Rhône tonight. Wow. It was beautiful when it was new. It's even more beautiful at eleven years old. Inexpensive (about $11 a bottle), I bought this wine by the case when I first moved back to California from Tokyo (in 2000). It was so good then, it was hard to resist. This was the only bottle that survived. Wonderful scents of figs, violets, licorice, and meat. Perfectly balanced. Good fruit, mellowed tannins, soft acidity. Mature, but very much alive. This could easily pass for a Châteauneuf-du-Pape costing four to five times as much. Beautiful wine. Just goes to prove that great wine does not have to be expensive--but 1998 appears to have been a truly great year in the southern Rhône.