Domaine La Garrigue, Côtes du Rhône ‘Cuvée Romaine’, 2006

I hadn’t had a drop of Grenache in many months – and wanted to see what I’d been missing. This CdR gave off a nose of smokey dried cherries, wild thyme and ripe blackberries. Big, in stature and up-tight tannins and texture, but a little boozy on the back-end. Dust and licorice on the finish.

Thankfully, it’s not spoofy, acids were present, and no oak lipsticking -  but it’s not jumping out at me. It’s really a seasonal thing I guess – Côtes du Rhônes have always been more of a winter-warmer-with-a-hearty-stew for me, and under the 90 degree humid Cincinnati oppresssion we call summer, I’d rather have a chilled Txakolina. It does have a “tastyness factor” and lots of folks are gunna love this, expecially with the right pairing, on the right cool evening.