Description: The Cellar Fella – wine, and words composed under its influence
December is upon us, nights are long and temperatures low, and by my reckoning that makes it Southern Rhone o’clock. I don’t think I’m alone here, even if Grenache, the region’s dominant grape, is not the trendiest, which you can tell because it’s largely ignored by ambitious new world producers (nearly 90% of all the world’s Grenache comes from France or Spain). But it is capable of producing wines of genuine greatness as well as wines that sit in that sweetest of spots, giving great pleasure to the consum
Take, for example, Rasteau. I literally took an example of Rasteau a couple of weeks back, having been offered a bottle as part of the celebrations of the region’s 10th anniversary as a full-blown Rhône cru – at the top of the local hierarchy, above Côtes du Rhône Villages, which itself sits above the common-or-garden Côtes du Rhônes. Rasteau is a name to remember, as you will generally find it to be a phenomenal hunting ground for generous, fruity, warming (fairly alcoholic, in other words) and good value
Let’s take a quick look at the current selection available to Britain’s Rasteau-hunters. Here’s what you can find at Tesco: