Jo le taxi (aka wine delivery driver) this week brought me a small but intriguing parcel I ordered en primeur over a year ago.
The reason I was interested in this wine was threefold…
1) it was by Paul Jaboulet Ainé
2) it was from Beaumes-de-Venise, a well known sweet white wine area but this was a red Grenache/Syrah
3) it was pretty cheap!
In the race to taste the latest “holy grail” Bordeaux vintage, or “super-domaine” from Burgundy it’s easy to overlook other wine regions of France that can offer much better value. For example Languedoc.
After experimenting with some Fitou several years ago I was left with the impression that wines from this most Mediterranean of French régions, were thick heavy, spicy and coarse. Clearly this was because I was drinking the cheapest possible produce. But then I tried a cracking 2003 Corbières that got my juices flowing, both in the brain and elsewhere…
This Château Vaugelas 2004 came from Costco at £6.75 plus VAT. That is either £7.93 or £7.76 depending on whether you bought it before or after 1 December 2008. I am proud to have made the marginal contribution of 17 pence to help my government sort out the banking crisis.
There’s something uniquely British about November 5th. Celebrating a failed attempt to blow up one’s house of parliament is a tad eccentric. Doing so by trying to burn down our own houses and gardens is plain odd, but admittedly good fun.
Our house looks over a valley, so there is never any need to buy fireworks. I merely park a deck chair on my balcony, sport a warm coat and enjoy them at my neighbours’ expense.
You are probably expecting me to construct a treasonable plot that this Châteauneuf-du-Pape smelt of gunpowder.
Even I am not that cheesy. There was an explosion on the tongue though. Red apples, liquorice, milk chocolate and vanilla. Luscious, opulent, smooth, delicious. Probably the best wine I have tasted from Virgin although, at £18.49, certainly not their cheapest.
Apparently, living on the side of a valley puts one in a time warp amongst other things, since today we celebrate the one month anniversary of November 5th – sorry this one was a bit late.
Forget the preamble. This Corbières is the most interesting and, frankly, gorgeous wine I have tried in ages.
I found it at Laithwaites (although it was sadly out of stock at time of writing). I cannot remember the price, but it was definitely not expensive. I fear that it is absolutely necessary to stick to the 2003 due to the freaky hot summer that year. It killed several hundred French people so one can only imagine the effect it had on shrivelling (er….I mean concentrating) the grapes, and this wine is an amalgamation of several.
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