A Taste of Rhone

I finally opened a bottle of wine from my first shipment from wine distributor Garagiste. I wanted to start with something familiar so I selected a French syrah based wine from the Northern Rhone. I love the flavor of syrah and especially the style from Rhone. I still like the big, bold flavors of an Australian Shiraz, but to get a distinct flavor of the grape without a lot of fruit the Rhone can't be beat.

The Domaine de Montine Seduction is 90% Syrah and 10% Viognier. I couldn't detect what flavors or aromas were contributed by the Viognier. For that matter, I couldn't pick out any distinct fruit. But when I smelled and tasted the wine, I thought Rhone! I went to a Rhone wine tasting two years ago and really enjoyed the wines. There was an almost rubber smell and taste to the wines. This sounds bad, but it is just what I have come to associate with the unique character of a Rhone. This was a 2006 bottle, so maybe it needed to age more for the fruit to be expressed better. But the wine was very enjoyable as it was. I do wish I had purchased two bottles and been able to save one for four years to experience it with more age. Maybe next time!

This wine would have gone really well with a hearty meat dish, especially one with a gamey flavor to it like duck or maybe venison. My wife and I enjoyed it all by itself, but I think we missed out. This is a great start for my Garagiste wine stash!

Tasting Notes:

Color: Deep purple

Aroma: Rhone (for lack of being able to smell better), rubber

Taste: Rhone, again I'm lacking in skill here

Finish: Long and enjoyable. Really nice tannins that would compliment a red meat dish well

Open That Bottle Night: # 9

Apparently this has been going on for a few years and I'm just learning about it. It makes sense: I've only been into wine for 15 months now. When I found out about Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher's Open That Bottle Night from reading Farley's post in her Behind the Vines blog, I knew which bottle I would be opening. The two writers, who share a wine column in the Wall Street Journal, have designated the last Saturday in February as a day to open and drink a wine that you've been holding on to because it's too special to drink.
My bottle has been on hold for 6 months. I bought it on the last day I worked at a local BevMo store. I had read about this wine in The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil. She was writting about Rhone wine and described this one as a wine that made her understand how great wine can be. I had also been to a Rhone wine tasting the previous winter but none of us had brought a Northern Rhone. I really wanted to know what the Syrah grape would be like in a French wine. The wine cost almost $70 and that was the main reason I couldn't bring myself to drinking it.
So, after a little debate in my head, I decided to open the bottle and see if Gaiter and Brecher had a good idea or not: they do. Their event helped show that now is the time to enjoy wine. I'm not sure what kind of occasion would have come along to cause me to open that bottle, but it wasn't going to happen any time soon. The mystique of that bottle would have grown with each month I didn't open it. As it was, I was disappointed when I first tried the wine. My first reaction was, "I paid THAT much for this wine!?! Why isn't it making my tongue dance?"
I did enjoy the wine after I got over the first disappointment. I let the wine decant for an hour while supper was being cooked. When we drank the wine with our meal, it had opened up a little and reminded me of why I like the Syrah so much and gave me a deeper appreciation for Rhone wines. It was a sublte wine. It had the fruit flavors of cherry and what I can only call a Syrah. It had nice tannins that stayed on my tastes buds after I had swallowed. There was a sour cherry flavor that mixed with the tannins and it paired well with our meal. I definitely want to get more Syrahs like this, but I don't want to have to pay so much next time.
I think the best thing to learn from this little exercise is that wine is only grape juice. Really good tasting grape juice, but still, only fluid squeezed from Vitis vinifera. I don't know if I'll have a wine that qualifies for OTBN next year. Almost every bottle I purchase is gone before thirty days go by. Maybe someone will give me a great bottle as a birthday present. Otherwise, I'll just have to read everyone else's posts. If you have a bottle that's waiting for some special moment that never seems to get here, why not open it tonight? I'm sure you'll enjoy it and you'll make this evening a little more special.

The writer of the Avenue Vine wine blog did a great review for of this wine for Wine Blogging Wednesday #19. If you're interested in finding out more technical information about this wine, click here.

Tasting Notes:

2002 Côte-Rôtie Brune et Blonde de Guigal

Color: Medium red with pink edges

Nose: Cherry and band aids (there is often a rubber aroma when I smell Rhone wines!)

Taste: Sour cherries and gentle syrah flavors, not like a fruit-bomb, but just as enjoyable

Finish: Sour cherry and light tannins that go well with food.

What's the Difference?

Last Friday over at West Coast Wine Country Adventures, Amy wrote a cool post on peppery Syrahs and cool weather climates. (Click the link above for her great post.)

I wondered if growing a Syrah in the same conditions you grow a Zinfandel would also produce a peppery Syrah. After all, Zinfandels are known for peppery flavors. A few weeks back I reported on the Klinker Brick Lodi Zinfandel. I wondered if their Farrah Syrah would be peppery so I picked up a bottle. This bottle of wine was peppery like the Zinfandel, in fact it was almost just like the Zinfandel in every way; it didn't seem like a Syrah at all.

Usually I can detect the Syrah part of a Northern Rhone blend or a meritage of Syrah and another red. The Farrah didn't have any of the Syrah flavor. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the fruit-bomb and would have loved it with a grilled rib-eye steak! It's just that it would have been nice if the wine had been different from the Zinfandel. Maybe if I tasted the two wines side by side I could have seen the difference.

I'll have to try some of the Syrahs that Amy and her readers talked about in the comments portion of her post. If you have a suggestion for a peppery Syrah, please let me know. Meanwhile, I'm going to have to pick up a rib-eye on the way home from work tonight to enjoy with my Zinfandel, I mean Syrah.

Tasting Notes:

2004 Klinker Brick "Farrah" Syrah

Color: Dark purple

Aroma: Zinfandel and green pepper

Taste: Pepper, Zinfandel fruit

Finish: Medium tannins that lingered with the fruit flavors. The alcohol level (15%) left a bite.