France
Chateau Duplessy
Bordeaux, 2003
$9.99
Chateau Duplessy comes from a vineyard on the right, or east, bank of the river in the Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux region, which, despite its impressive name, is not the best neighborhood. Most of the swanky regions that can command big money — Médoc, Margaux, Haut Médoc, Graves — are on the left bank.
Primieres Cotes de Bordeaux is a thin strip that runs along the twisting Garonne River for about 40 miles and is only 3 miles wide, so the district is often overlooked. And even though Chateau Duplessy has been around since the 17th century, it’s not the biggest name on the block and doesn’t stand out among Bordeaux’s 7,000 other chateaus. (Any house with a vineyard is a chateau.)
Only about 4,000 cases are produced each year from the chateau’s 20-acre vineyards, which is a low production and signals higher quality.
Small, lesser-known Bordeaux vineyards with skilled winemakers are often overlooked and can yield superior wines at bargain prices. Chateau Duplessy falls into that category.
Chateau Duplessy is a blend of 40 percent merlot, 30 percent cabernet sauvignon, 20 percent cabernet franc and 10 percent malbec. It’s aged in French oak barrels for a year, and the winemaker suggests that it should be aged another five to six years before one drinks it.
Trying to figure out Chateau Duplessy is fun, but it’s more fun just to drink it. At $9.99, you can have more than one.
Serendipity
Syrah, 2005
$8.99
Serendipity Syrah is a very good, complex wine at a great price from an interesting, lesser-known region of France. And as a bonus, the grapes are grown with sustainable farming practices.
A small winemaker, Chateau Camplazens, produces Serendipity in the hot, dry Languedoc region in southern France along the western coast of the Mediterranean Sea. There are only 3,000 cases made each year, so we’re lucky to be able to get it in this country.
Although it receives far less notice than Burgundy or Bordeaux, Languedoc is France’s oldest and largest wine producing region. Historians agree that the Romans made wine there as early as 125 B.C., and some believe the Celts may have been fermenting grapes for wine centuries earlier. The region now has somewhere around 740,000 acres of vines, which is more land in vineyards than either the United States or Australia. Languedoc produces one-third of the wine in France.
Serendipity is 100 percent syrah and is a medium body wine, about 13 percent alcohol. There’s no oak used in the aging process, which allows the fruit and spice flavors to shine.
The winemaker notes that Serendipity "is rich with scents of rosemary, violets and red berries and will work well with almost any meal."
I had the wine with fish tacos, and I liked it. After the bottle had been opened for a couple of hours, I tried it again as a nightcap. It was very nice for sipping at the end of a day.
Pinot Evil
Pinot Noir
$7.99
Improved vineyard practices, better technology and innovative packaging have helped winemakers bring the cost of well-made wine down under $10. Now, inexpensive pinot noir that is not only drinkable but also good is showing up on the Upper Valley market at very reasonable prices. (These wines are not to be confused with the superior pinots of Oregon, California and Burgundy. They’re out there too, and are easy to find in the $15 to $30 a bottle range.)
Pinot is expensive to make, so when you discover one that’s really worth drinking on sale for under $7, it’s a rare find. And, once again, it’s the big wine producer that we have to thank for this one — Pinot Evil.
The wine is Corsican and carries one of the best designations for the region, Vin de Pays de l’ile de Beauté. The world’s third largest wine producer, The Wine Group, makes the wine, and they’ve named it to appeal to the 20-Somethings. That doesn’t diminish its quality, and I found that once I got past the cute name, there was a pretty good wine.
Pinot Evil is widely available in the Upper Valley on the Vermont side. I found it at the South Royalton Market for $6.99, on sale from $7.99. If you can’t find it, ask for the wine at such places as F.H. Gillingham and Sons in Woodstock, Dan and Whit’s in Norwich, Coburn’s General Store in Strafford, Windsor Wine and Spirits or the Teago General Store in Pomfret. I couldn’t find it on the New Hampshire side, however.
Chateau de la Ragotiere
2005, Muscadet Sevre et Maine
$10.99
Chateau de la Ragotiere is an inexpensive wine that’s well crafted and at a top level of a varietal that many wine buyers have overlooked, which may explain its great price.
Brothers Bernard, Francois and Michel Couillaud make three Muscadets from grapes grown in the region where the Sevre and Maine rivers flow into the Loire River. It’s an area near the Atlantic Ocean that is known as being the best for the grape, Melon de Bourgogne. This wine, the Black Label Muscadet de Sevre et Maine, is the top of their line and receives high ratings from the wine magazines.
Muscadets are 100 percent Melon de Bourgogne grapes, which don’t have strong distinguishing characteristics, and so, the wine is left on the lees to give the finished product character and a slight carbon dioxide sparkle.
It’s a great wine for just sipping before a meal or with light cheeses or other appetizers. Because the grapes are grown so close to the sea, the winemakers recommend it to accompany shellfish, grilled fish or any seafood. They suggest drinking the wine six months after it’s bottled, or a year from harvest, but they also add that it will cellar for at least five years and possibly longer.
Chateau de la Ragotiere is a little hard to find. In the N.H. Liquor Store in West Lebanon, it’s back in the left front corner with the Loire wines. F.H. Gillingham and Sons in Woodstock also has it, and the Norwich Inn serves it. If you can’t find the wine, ask your wine store to get it.
Marignetti Companies distributes Chateau de la Ragotiere in New Hampshire, and Baker Distributing handles it in Vermont.