Best cheap wine I ever tried.

So I’m at Bevmo today and I called Phil Franks to discuss some Pinots they had. Out of nowhere Phil tells me to go over the the French section and check out the 2011 Saint Cosme Cotes-du- Rhone. Now normally I wouldn’t consider a a $15 wine but I really like the producer so I thought I’d give it a try.

Just delicious, I’ll be going back for more.

Thanks for the tip Phil.

You’ve never had St Cosme CdR? It’s a fantastic wine, a true QPR, since the 2007 vintage

Nope, never had it.

I’ve like their Gigondas, cote rotie, and cdp. You know me, I overlook inexpensive wines

Tru.

BevMo is one of the worst places to find good wines, but every now and then! Good thing you used your lifeline to call a friend.

Is that the Bevmo in Tacoma? I’ll have to pick up a few bottles tomorrow, thanks for the recommendation.

I am including the Saint Cosme Little James Basket Press White in a tasting for a church fundraiser in August. At a previous tasting we had the Saint Cosme Little James Basket Press Red (non-vintage solera style mixed vintages.) The white is from a blend of Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc. The red is usually from a blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre although a recent bottling was 100% Grenache.

I need to attend your church. Drinking wine would give me a reason to get up early on a Sunday!

one of my house wines year in and year out

Thanks for the post, Steve.

St. Cosme has been one of my fave estates for many, many years. I have probably consumed more wine from this estate over the last 10 years than any other estate. From the $10 Little James Baskett Press, to the sub-$15 CDRs (w/syrah) to the upper-end Gigondas, just historically very good wines. I will admit to having scaled back in '09 and '10 as I think Baruoul turned the heat up a notch, but perhaps 2011 gave him different materials. If you liked the base CDR, see if you can find his CDR called “Les Deux Albion”. It’s always a cut above, and blended with a little Clairette or Vioginer. For $20, it is a perennial winner if you like the style.

+1 on both the CdR and the Little James. The later uses some kind of solera system IIRC.

Big fan of the Deux Albion bottling of the same. Couple of bucks more, but in great vintages almost CDP like.

I will try the CdR but I must admit that I absolutely hate the Little James Rouge. I just get no Rhone, really no anything from it. I have a half case or so that will go into braises.
I’ve enjoyed many of their other wines.

Another really good one is 2011 Domaine Guicharde Cotes Du Rhone for $9. I never even heard of this domaine until I tried this wine.

I don’t get this.

The CdR is 100% Syrah, so it is a bit out of the ordinary for the South, but doesn’t taste ‘warm’. Good acidity, lots of black fruits, actually keeps quite well for 3-4 years past vintage. We just moved to 2012 here recently, and it has been as solid as the last 4 vintages we’ve worked with.

Haven’t tried one in over a decade but back in the late '90s I found the their CdR very modern. Still the case?

I go to Texier for my CdR fix these days.

But on the best cheap wine I ever tried topic the La Vielle Ferme white is surprisingly good. I’ll only use the red for cooking but the white is very drinkable (everyone enjoyed it when I poured it at my blind wine dinner last year).

St Cosme is modern but good typicity. Nothing like a Texier.

Jay I tried the '11 and found it modern, to the point of feeling anonymous and produced. One bottle sample over two days about six months ago, so could have been a bad showing. I’m not usually a fan of S. Rhone Syrah so much though. The Texier is good and only a tad more, though they are really very different wines.

My cheap GSM find this year is called Pontificis, found at Trader Joe’s. $7. I think it’s from Languedoc, but has a heavy mourvedre component and shows it. Tastes more like what I remember CDR tasting like when I first got into wine than any seem to taste to me now.

got a couple mags of '10 St Cosme Cdr that I haven’t tried yet…

Ten years ago drank a bottle a night for seven nights in St Barts (the only thing the grocery store near the hotel stocked that I wanted.) If this brings any part of me back to THAT moment in time it will be a bargain a twice the price.

Back then I don’t remember that many of us we were calling it “modern” yet.

Ain’t heard Domaine La Garrigue mentioned in a while… are we collectively over that one?