Rhône-ish

“More Red Rhônes and… Detroit Lions?!”

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I found these two wines this past Saturday at our friendly neighborhood Costco. We love all the Rhône varietals, so it was an easy choice to buy them both and bring them home. Being that I almost never indulge in alcohol during the day, I had no intention of opening anything during yesterday afternoon’s Lions-Buccaneers game. I figured I’d just wait and see how the game went, and maybe open something accordingly afterwards, but my wife Kim wanted a glass of red wine during the 2nd half, and after looking over the selection in our wine rack, she decided on the Gigondas.

Happily, the Lions won the game, and are moving on to the conference championship next weekend against the San Francisco 49ers. The Gigondas turned out to be quite good too, as I found when I poured myself a glass last evening. Afterwards, I decided to see what the Côtes du Roussillon is all about, and I really enjoyed it as well, although it’s rather different in style from the southern Rhône. Here are my impressions of each. Continue reading