2004 Chapelle St Arnoux Gigondas

I'm a pretty smart guy, but there are a lot of things that I just either haven't studied (astrophysics), haven't experienced (skiing), or just don't get (soap operas). Then there are things that I just never knew existed until I bump into them like this French wine region called Gigondas. I actually had to go to my Book of Wine and dig around to learn something of this Appellation Contrôlée. It exists in Southern France and was once part of the AC Côtes du Rhône-Villages. In 1971 it was granted full AC status for red and rosé wines. The wines from this AC can be no more than 65% Grenache with the other important grapes in this blend being Carignan, Cinsault, Mourvèdre and Picpoul.

The reason that I bring this up is that as I was walking around the local Wegmans (yes I do have a local wine shop but some surprising wines can be found in some supermarkets in this state) when I spied one of the employee picks, this 2004 Chapelle St Arnoux Gigondas and I just had to see what the fuss was about. The color of this wine is a translucent violet. In other words, you can see light through it but it is fairly dark. The nose first gives you the scent of alcohol (it is a 14% wine) followed by chocolate and cherry. The taste starts with a dark cherry which quickly slides to a spicy, peppery finish that doesn't linger on the palate. It is a well balanced, big wine that would be great with a pasta with a heavy red sauce.

While this wine didn't rock my world, I did thoroughly enjoy drinking it. To me, it is much more of a food wine than a sit and drink in the afternoon type wine. The price was a touch high at around $16 for a 750ml bottle but again, the price of a bottle is never directly related to the quality of the product inside.