Apropos of the "cheap wine" thread, we opened a bottle of this Cotes du
Rhone last night with a dinner of cherrywood smoked pheasant and
assorted vegetables. Previous releases of this wine have been popular
in our household as the "house" red. '98 was great, '99 a little less
interesting, and now on to the 2000 version. [note: this is the "Vielles
Vignes" cuvee with a gold label]

color: dark red-purple
nose: initially a bit retisescent, it opened up to offer the typical
cherry/kirsch fruit with the equally typical overlay of herbs/garrigue
palate: medium-full in body and well-balanced, it's got a core of deep,
cherryish fruit and a great finish of roasted herbs with plenty of
acidity.

Still young, but fine to drink now, it went very well with the smoked
bird. This wine has the weight and depth to pass for a good quality
Gigondas (interestingly, it doesn't have as much resemblance to
Vacqueyras, despite the domaine's location within the Vacqueyras AC) and
can probably keep for another 4-5 years with no problem, though I'm not
sure if it will improve any with age. Available in our area for
US$10.95, it represents one of the better QPR reds I've had recently.

Mark Lipton