Chemin Des Papes 2013 Review

Every once in a while, it's fun to taste something we have no intention of shipping.  In this case, it's a Cotes Du Rhone blend of 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah.  Those who know me, also know that I love small local businesses.  This bottle came from a small local grocery store (well, no meat, so I guess it is technically a produce market) which I felt compelled to buy after my preschooler needed to use the bathroom, which in essence is for their employees-hardly something they had to let us use.  I wanted to buy something with a bit more margin than the peaches and scones that comprise our usual order.

Video Trascription:

Hi Guys. Mark Aselstine here with Uncorked Ventures. First we're digging out a little bit here. I was in Walla Walla last week to taste through some Washington wines and to source some wine for upcoming wine club shipments. Much of that won't be in the next month or two, it'll be a few months down the road. Being based outside of San Francisco, we tend to try to put together groups of wines and then ship down all at once as opposed to shipping a handful of cases from a few different wineries. Quite honestly it's more cost effective and it leads to better wine for all of our members.

Today I wanted to spend a couple of minutes talking about something that I don't do very often which is a French wine. This is a Chemin des Papes. You'll have to excuse, my French is not great. That's probably one of the … Part of the backlash from growing up in Southern California where Spanish you hear almost exclusively when it comes to foreign languages and my Spanish isn't bad. My French is terrible. Chemin des Papes it's what's referred to as a Cotes du Rhone. When we hear Rhone, that's really clear, that's the Rhone Valley in France. People don't give the Rhone very much credit. When it comes to casual wine drinkers, when you think of France you think of Bordeaux first, you think of Burgundy second and some folks will think of Champagne region, too. 

The Rhone Valley is actually the oldest wine growing region in France. The [Venetians 00:01:30] reportedly brought grape cuttings and started to grow wild vines there in the 12th Century. Much like California, it wasn't until the Catholic Church started to move in in great numbers and if you know the history of the Catholic Church at all, not to bore you, but the long story short is for a while the Pope was actually based in France as opposed to Vatican City in Italy or Rome. That's when cultivation of grapes really took off. That's when we see wide scale plantings of stuff in the Rhone Valley. That's really the 18th Century.

The Rhone is known for two things. First it's a warm growing region and south towards the Mediterranean sea. This is Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre. On the white side you see Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Marsanne. The one thing you will notice, not a lot of household names. A lot of people know about Syrah and recognize Syrah and then they think to themselves very quickly, "I don't like Syrah." One of the things we try to do is sometimes try something at random. This Chemin des Papes is made in, quite frankly, huge quantities. I picked it up for about 10 bucks at a local, I'd call it a grocery store but that oversells it. We have a local, a couple of blocks down from the house, produce market. They sell no meat inside but produce is great and they have a small wine and beer selection that's almost exclusively international. This is in wide scale distribution throughout not only the United States but I think they go out to something along the line of 50 countries or so. Certainly all over Europe and then most of Asia and then North America as well.

What this is is 60 per cent Grenache, 40 per cent Syrah. It's fairly typical for the region. It's a really nice wine though. It's nice if you're looking for a solid house wine at a really affordable price. Chemin des Papes should be literally everywhere in your local market. Wine store may or may not have it. I'd bet you that the small to go grocery stores carry it. I thought it was interesting and I thought it was also interesting to get to talk a little bit about the Rhone Valley here in this space, which we don't get to do quite often enough. Like I said, people don't give Syrah very much credit but if you find Syrah to be too dark, too dense, or you say, "I think I prefer a cab," which is most of the United States to be honest with you. Something that's a higher percentage Grenache rather than Syrah is probably something that's going to fit the bill a little bit better. 

The Chemin des Papes, reportedly they make something along the lines of 2 million cases of this. It's quite clearly everywhere. This is a really good value at 10 bucks and I certainly wouldn't [bahoo 00:04:02] buying another bottle or two along the way. It's a nice intro to French wine and when people talk about French style versus California style, this bottle, I think, does a good job of doing it. I think really often on the California side of things you tend to have these big over ripe things at the $10 price point. France, the tend to have a lighter hand and it's also because it's simply a little bit cooler there. Once again, Mark Aselstine with Uncorked Ventures. I hope you've enjoyed this short intro to the Rhone Valley of France and the Chemin des Papes Cotes du Rhone 10 bucks locally for wherever you sit and in any case have a good week. We certainly are. Thanks.