Bi!! wrote:

> Is it me or has the nature of Cotes du Rhone fundimentally changed in
> the past few years? It seems that every CdR that I've had in the past
> 3-4 years has been fairly dark and dense and even a bit jammy. I've
> just had the '02, '03 and '05 St Cosme and found them all to be dark
> berry jammy full bodied wines yet early vintages such as '95, '96 and
> '99 showed a lighter more balanced and restrained "French style" wine.

I think that CdRs have, overall, grown weightier in the past decade.
Probably the biggest reason is the price escalation for CdP, providing a
lot of financial incentive for CdR producers to make "CdP lite." Viewed
in the most positive light, this means no more overcropping and more
strict selection of old vine parcels for more prestigious cuvées. And
look what's happened to CdR prices over the past 5-10 years: wines that
previously sold for $5 a bottle now sell for close to $20 a bottle. The
"new" CdR is likely the Languedoc, where you can still find GSM blends
for $5 a bottle, at least until the eroding value of the $ send them
upward, too.

Mark Lipton

Mark Lipton


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