Quintessential Value Reds
by Anthony Lynch
2022 Côtes du Rhône Rouge
France | Southern Rhône
One of our best values year in and year out, our house Côtes du Rhône is an unfiltered Grenache-based red we blend each year together with a cave co-op outside of Avignon. The winemaker works closely with numerous small vignerons and purchases their grapes, sourcing from a variety of nearby terroirs to give a quintessential rendition of a southern Rhône red. Much of the fruit comes from the neighboring town of Châteauneuf-de-Gadagne—one of the twenty communes permitted to append its name to the Côtes du Rhône Villages appellation—whose stony, alluvial soils are similar to those of a much better-known Châteauneuf not far away.
Our annual blending consists of tasting samples from roughly two dozen different tanks, with the goal of capturing classic Rhône flavors in a versatile and approachable bargain red. In the 2022 rendition, you’ll find rich, juicy aromas of ripe dark fruit, spicy flavors of licorice and wild herbs, and chewy tannins that leave your palate replete with impressions of thyme, black cherry, and stone.
We are always impressed by how delicious this wine is when we taste it at the cave each year; we hope you’ll feel the same upon uncorking a bottle at home.
2022 Vino Rosso
Italy | Piedmont
Marco Tintero, the Piedmont value champ, has a questionable pricing strategy. While nearly every other wine producer in the world has raised their prices recently, nothing ever budges for Marco. Can you believe it, in this economy!?
Pick up a bottle of his red, a blend of mostly Barbera and Dolcetto, and you too will be perplexed. Light, fresh, and smooth on the palate, with just a hint of that “bite” we associate with Italian reds, it’s so good it just doesn’t quite make sense.