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"De gustibus non est disputandum." - There is no disputing matters of taste.

Coming attraction

February will be BORDEAUX MONTH.  We'll explore why Bordeaux is often referred to as the "King of Wines."

Haiti Relief

Partners in Health, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing medical care and food to poor persons in Haiti, has been on-the-ground in Haiti for over 20 years.  You can donate to Partners in Health to help Haiti relief operations at pih.org.  Other options include RedCross.org and ClintonBushHaitiFund.org.

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Welcome!  This blog is focused on finding value-priced wines that offer excellent taste and quality.                      Please feel free to add comments about the posts and make suggestions for other excellent wines that can be purchased for under $25.

Format

Most of the posts will focus on a single wine.  Every couple weeks, I'll try to summarize all of the wines discussed so far for a particular type of wine like Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon.  Occasionally, I'll offer a news article or a "How to" article on various topics (tasting wine, collecting wine, storing wine, etc.).  The posts are tagged with keywords that are listed on the right side below.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

2007 La Vieille Ferme "Cotes du Ventoux" (Rouge)

The Rhone Valley in France is one of my favorite regions for value-priced wines.  The southern region of the Rhone Valley produces both high-level wines like Chateauneuf-du-Pape and mid-level wines from selected villages (Cotes du Rhone-Villages) or generic Cotes du Rhone wines without a village designation.

The 2007 vintage was one of the all-time greatest vintages for the southern Rhone, and there are so many very good-to-excellent wines to choose from.  IMO the 2007 La Vieille Ferme "Cotes du Ventoux" red wine has one of the highest quality-to-price ratios.

Robert Parker gives it 87 points:  "A blend of Grenache, Syrah, Carignan and Cinsault.  A classic bistro red offering aromas and flavors of berry fruit, licorice, pepper and spice.  Enjoy this soft, round, delicious wine. ...  This is consistently a top value pick."

La Vieille Ferme is made by the Perrin family that runs Chateau de Beaucastel, one of the great estates in southern France.  It is medium-bodied, rich with red fruit, and very low tannins.  My wife and I think it's delicious and goes well with chicken, pork or meat dishes.  A wonderful weekday table wine.

My local wine shop -- Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa -- sells it for $6 a bottle (yes, $6 was not a typo).  Drink it now (and buy a couple extra cases to last the next year or so -- I think we're on our third case).  Beware - The production was large, but many stores may run out in the next couple months.

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