Southern Rhône Reds
by Emily Spillmann and Chris Santini
The southern Rhône is to wine what “comfort food” is to cooking—warm, inviting, fulfilling, and nostalgic. Many of us, myself included, had our first “Eureka!” wine-moments around a glass of a hearty Grenache-based blend, seemingly overflowing with flavors of ripe fruit, sun-drenched herbs, and even the sounds of chirping cicadas, if you allowed your mind to wander a bit. While dishes of foraged moss on edible tree bark, or molecularly deconstructed goji berries in smoke rings can certainly be exciting, sometimes it’s nice to find yourself in front of a heaping portion of your grandmother’s classic lasagna. Dig in, everyone, there is nothing not to like here.