Wine Review: Delas Saint Esprit Côtes du Rhône

Posted by Wine Welfare | Filed under $8-$10, France, Grenache, Meritage/Blend, Red, Rhone Valley, Syrah

An Unusual Rhone Blend

The Delas Saint Esprit Côtes du Rhône is a rather different Rhone blend. The wine is made up of 75% Syrah and 25% Grenache. Generally, Rhone blends are made up of Syrah and some of the typical whites from the region, such as Viognier, Roussanne or Marsanne. Still, this was suggested to us by a friend and was out of this world.

Color

Great color exhibiting bright red fruits like red currant and strawberry.

Nose

A playful nose, which sounds weird, but it basically means that it’s pleasing with a variety of smells. In this case, it’s pepper, black currant jam, cinnamon, and bright strawberry fruit rollups.

Taste

Again, the wine is playful and bright, exhibiting lots of varied flavors and textures. At once it’s like velvet, but then the tannins kick in and it takes on a whole new flavor. The fruit is delicious and very strong despite most vintages being rather young right now for under $20. We had the 2007. The spices kick in on the finish, leaving you with the sensation that you’ve just had a spiced berry pie of some sort.

With Food

Not for BBQ or tomatoes; too much smoke and acid that could overpower this baby. This wine has some varied and wacky flavors that should be underscored rather than bluntly matched. Try it with some sharp cheeses, nuts and berries. As a full meal wine, roasts would work well, especially some roasted game like mutton or antelope.

$9.99 from WineExchange.com!

Check out our other Cotes du Rhone wine reviews!

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