So, there I was, relishing my find: Dom. Charvin - Vin de Pays de la Principauté d’Orange “à Côté”. It opens with a burst of bright red and sour cherry. Snap! A red fruit attack with a little plumb underneath. Very good acid, so it’s light on its feet. It surprises on the finish, where there are somewhat chalky tannins. This is just the kind of grenache I’ve been looking for – lots of fruit and it has a middle; it’s not a hollow shell of alcohol that rings the mouth but leaves the palate wanting flavor. Since I can’t find Charvin’s Cotes du Rhone and this is just $12.99, I’m thrilled. I’m 86/87-ish on this. It’s great with a sauté of beets, sweet potatos, artichokes and apples. (My wife invented that implausible combo, but it turns out to be excellent.) And it has that wonderful funky not-quite appellation (“Indication Géographique Protégée”).
So I go to write up my “In your face, grenache haters” note, daring you/them to try this, and I poke around to find out a bit more about the wine. What do I discover on the importer’s site? This beverage is 50-50 grenache and merlot. Friggin’ merlot! I mean, WTF, in the heart of the southern Rhone?
Et tu, Charvin?
That probably explains the somewhat coarse tannins. There’s a reason they grew grenache and not (much) syrah or any Bordeaux grapes around Avignon and Orange traditionally.
So I can’t taunt the grenache haters with this wine, and I confess I’m enjoying it a little less now that I know the constituents.
Still, for $13 at Crush it’s great everyday wine. The fruit is genuine, and genuinely grenache. I’ll just try to forget what else is in there.
There are actually a fair number of VDPs from the area that use some bordeau-ish grapes. I tease Laurent regularly about the merlot in his. But the vines came with the vineyard and he doesn’t want to pull them out. I’m not a fan of the style, but it is a style in the area for VDPs.
Actually, that’s the gig in VdP Principauté d’Orange, the 50-50 split. I wouldn’t let the grape breakdown get in the way of enjoyment. After all, if this were a Dressner wine, Joe would have just made up the percentages and they wouldn’t necessarily be what was in the wine or add up to 100%.
Don’t get me wrong – I still like the wine. But knowing there’s merlot in it makes me think the tannins are coarse and that it’s not just because the wine is young. It’s still a great value and an honest wine.
Emmanuel Reynaud does a 100% Merlot and Merlot-Syrah at the Domaine des Tours (also in Vin de Pays). He sells them after a while (bought some 2001 Merlot-Syrah last year), to give the wine some time. I personnaly prefer the “standard” Domaine des Tours, but these are worth a try (around 10€ at the domaine).
Alain
ps: Not to be an a**, but “Et tu, Laurent Charvin?” doesn’t mean anything in French (could be “Et toi?”, but then I don’t get the meaning either).