Why do I get so much more enjoyment out of $15 CdR than $60 California Grenache? That’s a rhethorical question–well… it is for people who count. The 99 will need this question answered and will offer many boring scenarios. The wine 1 percent do not require any discussion of this blanket-statement dilemma. This wine ain’t gonna get any Jeb Dunnick 94’s, but it is solid and gorgeous. Medium ruddy purple: shallow pours show off the main ingredient’s trademark color, deep at the core resides definite ruby. A rather acrid peaty vegetal rules the nose, with gobs of poopy barnyard churning underneath. Throughout: spicy, graphite-tinged black cherry shows sliced-onion savory focus and hot-rock ripeness.

In the mouth, the deliciousness of the cherry is mind-boggling. Thin and beautiful in body while deep and concentrated in flavor, the rich fruit wanes against throbbing acid giving pie-cherry tart backwash the final say. Bitter, black walnut tannin creases the finish in ways both invigorating the perception of fruit and quelling it. Pretty fun stuff, and with CdP hitting 15-oh and 15-five with normalized regularity, a rather refreshing liquid in your glass. And not an infant.

2015 VIGNOBLES SERGUIER ‘Les Galets de Sauveterre’ GR/SY/Counoise 80/10/10 Cotes du Rhone 13.5

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