Another Costco TN (don't want to bury in Costco thread)

WINE TALK
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2021 Jean-Louis Côtes du Rhône Grande Réserve
I’m always on the prowl for a decent cooking wine, which might also be drinkable. I buy lots of the Kirkland CdR in the fall, and I mourn when they disappear. In Florida we tried the Chianti Classico, and found the current vintage to be decent, especially for 8 bucks. It works great in a braise of chicken thighs.
Unfortunately, the Chianti is now all gone in Mt Pleasant; I stumbled over this CdR and decided to be brave.

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A good sign

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Not necessarily a good sign :wink:

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60 Grenache/40 Syrah.
First whiff is very Grenache-dominant, with the Orange Pekoe, black olive, and Garrigue of a modern southern Rhone. I probably would have guessed Barroche based on that first sniff. As I get into it, it is still dominated by Grenache, with a little heat on the back end, but it is not too gloopy or unbalanced.
All in all, it will be a fine cooking wine, and a pleasant quaff after a glass goes into whatever sauce I am building. Deduct the customary points from the Suckling score,
But $6.99?–no brainer IMO.
I will age a few bottles for several years and then blindside a tasting group.

2 Likes
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Suckling 91, isn’t that, like, an “F” in school?

Thank you for tasting past his gibberish and I will look for this!

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Final glass better than the first–almost always a good sign.
For the record, I still plan to use it as a cooking wine, but it is definitely worth a peek with burgers on the patio, etc.

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A fine instance of nominative determinism, as he’s really leant into suckling on the wine industry.