Great Wine Made Simple - Andrea Immer [73]
A small quantity of white Châteauneuf is also made from Roussanne, white Grenache (like the Pinots Blanc and Noir, Grenache comes in a white and red version), and other grapes. It is exotic, delicious, and expensive.
The Rhône Rangers and Australia
These Southern Rhône wines, along with the Northern Rhône’s offerings, were the inspiration for a group of California winemakers who branched out from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot to experiment with the Rhône’s indigenous grapes in California vineyards. They were dubbed “Rhône Rangers” by the wine press, and many of the wines have been successful and popular. The pioneers in this movement were the Bonny Doon Vineyard, Joseph Phelps Vineyard, McDowell Valley Vineyards, Cline Cellars, RH Phillips, and Sanford Winery, among others. Some restaurants now even have entire Rhône Rangers sections on their wine lists, because the wines go so well with popular food styles such as Mediterranean, Pan Latin, and California cuisine.
Long before the Rhône Ranger era in California, Australia had its widespread and well-established tradition of making varietal Shiraz (Syrah), and of blending traditional Rhône varietals. The most famous of all Australian Shiraz wines is the famous Penfolds Grange, truly a collector’s item and worthy of its world-class status. Other top Australian Shiraz producers include Hardy’s, Henschke, Mount Mary, Brokenwood, Dalwhinnie, St. Hallett, Jasper Hill, Mount Langi Ghiran, Rosemount, Elderton, and d’Arenberg. Then there are the multigrape blends modeled on Southern Rhône wines. They sometimes have proprietary names, but often the list of varietals, and their percentages in the blend, is included right on the label. Rosemount, Jim Barry, Cape Mentelle, Penfolds, d’Arenberg, Hardy’s, Hill of Content, and Yarra Yering make some of my favorites in this style. There is a “crossover” style of Australian wine that is also outstanding—blends of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz, which, as you would expect, resemble a cross between French Bordeaux and Northern Rhône reds. They are oak aged, full-bodied, and intense. Many age very well. Penfolds Bin 389 is my favorite of these.
Cheap but Good—Côtes du Rhône
Côtes du Rhône is the name of the overall regional appellation for the Rhône (the classic regions of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Hermitage, and so on, are its subdistricts just as Chablis and Gevrey-Chambertin are high-quality subdistricts within the larger Burgundy region). Production is mostly red wine, but I think that Côtes du Rhône wines in all three colors—red, rosé, and white—are some of the best-value wines for everyday drinking in the entire wine world. They are loaded with fruit and flavor—the reds spicy, the whites and rosés juicy and refreshing—and good ones often cost less than ten dollars. The big Northern and Southern Rhône wineries listed above all make good Côtes du Rhône. Some of personal favorites are Guigal, Perrin, d’Aigueville, Duboeuf, Jean-Luc Colombo, Jaboulet, and Chapoutier. But Côtes du Rhône is a safe wine to “gamble” on in a store or restaurant even if you have not heard of the winery name—I truly have never encountered a bad one. Also look for wines from the related appellation Côtes du Rhône-Villages, whose grapes come from the top sixteen villages in the area. They are a step up in quality and price.
One of a Kind
Muscat Beaumes de Venise (MUSS-cat Bohm duh Vuh-NEEZ) is a very distinctive dessert wine that you see a lot on restaurant wine lists, and often available by the glass, for good reason. It is wonderful and not very expensive. You’ll recall our “floral” tasting in Chapter 3, which featured the exotic Muscat grape. We also tasted the dry version from Alsace earlier in this chapter. Here it is in a sweeter, fuller-bodied version. That’s because it belongs in a category of French dessert wines called vins doux naturel (van doo