L'Intrepide: Easy Red

This terrifically easy to drink Côtes du Rhône GSM red sits atop my wine-friendly wines list.

2009 Domaine du Bois de Saint Jean

90 pt Wine Advocate, 15% alcohol, $10.99

It’s made of 60% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 15% Mourvèdre, 5% Cinsault, basically what most of you may be familiar when drinking Aussie GSM wines. I discovered this wine at BELL’S GRAND WINE TASTING amongst 50 other wines great and small. You go to a Bell’s tasting and you inevitably taste a few wines you only realize the next day are overly hot or wildly vinified. The French appear to be trying to get on the wine money bus in the new world. French fine wine is pricey, earthy, and not fruit forward or new world palette-friendly. French export wine is usually not as much fun as Aussie, Argentinian or similar cheap wine thrills out there.

So enters 2009 Domaine du Bois de Saint Jean. The wine pourer assured me this is an off-label Chateauneuf du Pape. My friend Muffy introduced me to the infallibility of CndP’s back in the ’80s when I was at law school. She salvaged my sense of what is worth drinking in old world wines. But now for half the price is this little “Tuesday night wine.”

Served with grilled lamb chops or a rich red sauce, the GSM sings a fun song over the garlicky meal you lay in front of it. Both pasta and lamb are tough for microwave reheating, but I microwaved my lunch and after some skillful playing around and getting to know your microwave’s capabilities, you can make better microwaved meals. Treat your lunch as if it’s a dinner–savor it and make this GSM a part of it.

This wine enjoys a warm, silky mouthful and a fun, lilting, sing-song feeling of a red wine you could drink event without food. It’s not noticeably oaky and thrives in the Grenache that makes it so smooth. The 15% Mourvèdre makes it a wine with shape and then the 5% Cinsault gives it a touch of character. But overall, it is too hot (high in alcohol) and too easy to drink.

Be careful to sip only!

Addendum for today’s post: cool blog alert! Arrow Wines has great tips on how to drink and enjoy wine. CHECK IT OUT, subscribe to the RSS today.

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