Autumnal red wines from the Rhône
Palais St Vigni, Côtes du Rhône, Rhône, France 2023 (£5.49, Tesco) A dose of one of the spicy, robust, meaty red wines of the Rhône Valley is, in my opinion, the most reliably effective prescription for the rapid depletion in Vitamin D levels that comes with this nights-drawing-in moment. Warming and sustaining in themselves, they are also the perfect match for autumnal foods: for the first rich meaty stews and hearty soups of the year; for sausages and mash; for roasted squash and mushrooms. Happily, they don’t have to be expensive, either: while it may not be the most expressive or refined of the region’s bottles, Tesco’s Palais St Vigni, for example, is by far the best of the dwindling band of circa-£5 red wines offered in the UK’s supermarkets that I’ve tried recently. Avoiding the usual cheap-bottle trick of stuffing the wine with sugar to mask the flaws and fill the palate, it is instead properly dry, and has a sprinkle of spice and some juicy berry flavours.
M&S Classics Côtes du Rhône Villages, Rhône, France 2023 (£9, Marks & Spencer) The vast Côtes du Rhône appellation is one of France’s biggest, and it covers a huge range of climates, soils and grape varieties from just south of Lyon down to the Provençal south. In theory, wines with the Côtes du Rhône Villages appellation are meant to be a step up in quality, with the grapes sourced from vineyards that the local wine authorities have deemed to be a cut above – and that does indeed appear to be the case in the M&S range, with the retailer’s perfectly respectable Côtes du Rhône outstripped in finesse by the stylish Villages, which just seems to have a little bit more clarity or focus to it. As ever with French wine, things are never that straightforward, however. Sometimes the producer transcends the appellation, with the rosemary-infused black-fruited succulence of Domaine Maby’s Variations Côtes du Rhône 2021 (£14.95, yapp.co.uk) putting many a Villages in the shade.
Domaine Font Sarade Les Pigières, Gigondas, Rhône, France 2022 (£24, hhandc.co.uk) The Maby wine was one of a handful of fine autumnal Rhône reds to feature at a tasting put on by The Bunch association of six of the UK’s best independent wine merchants in London recently. Yapp Bros, justly known as one of the UK’s best Rhône specialist importers, was also responsible for showing off the polished plum-and-peppercorn glide of Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage 2021 (£29.95, yapp.co.uk), which was complemented by Corney & Barrow’s choice from the same appellation: Domaine des Hauts Châssis Crozes-Hermitage Les Galets 2021 (£26.95), an equally slick and slinky mix of blackberry fruit and peppery spice with a subtle savoury meaty streak. These two pure expressions of the syrah grape variety from the northern part of the valley were joined by a particularly bright, fresh, herbal-red-fruited version of the typical grenache-led blend from the south of the region: Domaine Font Sarade’s Les Pigières is a gloriously lithe, elegant, solar-powered example of the wines of Gigondas.
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