Wines for recessionary times

St Thomas Aquinas wrote that ‘sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine’. In these turbulent times, Giovanni Morelli agrees.
In this column, I have always tried to pick wines that are interesting and relatively inexpensive. It seems that with all the talk of recession, depression and general gloom, the consumption of wine will be become more important to relieve our suffering and it will behove us to look for wines at a reasonable price.

The general feeling seems to be that corporate purchases have diminished, but overall sales of wine are stable. This means we are drinking less-expensive wines, but still maintaining our level of spending. The recession has undoubtedly meant hard times for many wine producers but in turn, has resulted in bargains for the consumer. Let us hope it leads to more sensible and cheaper wines in restaurants. I have always contended that wine sales would increase in restaurants if prices were kept at a reasonable level.
We have spoken about the Rhône Valley in the past, but for my money, it still continues to provide great value and beautiful wines. The topography of the northern Rhône is completely different from the south.
h4. Steep hills
The vineyards are on very steep hills and the yields are relatively small. The grape for the red wines is Syrah and in general, these wines are expensive and I would say a little astringent. They certainly are an acquired taste and probably remain the weekend wines of bankers and other such antisocial people. If you would like to sample a well-made wine from Crozes Hermitage try Crozes Hermitage 2007 from Yann Chave. Outlets include The Vintry in Rathgar, McCabes in Blackrock and Next Door off licence in Enfield and the recommended retail price (RRP) is between €21 and €22.50.
The family Domaine J L Chave is one of northern Rhône’s most famous and popular producers – run for years by Gérard Chave, who has now handed over to his California-trained son Jean-Louis Chave. Domaine Yann Chave is different, but his reputation is steadily growing. John Livingstone-Learmonth in his book The Wines of the Northern Rhône says he is ‘one of the best young men to appear in the northern Rhône in the past dozen years’.
Apparently he was an economist with a bank in Paris until deciding in 1996 to start making wine, but we won’t mention the war! Yann Chave uses micro-oxygenation, pumping small amounts of oxygen through the wine and giving it a slightly ‘woody’ taste. Crozes Hermitage is a fairly large area (1,235 hectares) and the red grape is Syrah. These wines are significantly cheaper than Hermitage, which is a tiny area (134 hectares), but whose wines have been likened to ‘re-married widowers’ by Andrew Jefford in his book, The New France. The Chave family has been making wine here since the 15th century.
h4. Paint stripper
The southern Rhône is where ordinary people, like you and I, dabble. The area is huge and the wines can vary from beautiful, full-bodied, dark purple wines to thin, brick-coloured ‘paint stripper’. I’m afraid the accolade Côtes du Rhône is not very helpful and you really have to do a little work and try to remember the areas and the bottlers.
For red wines, the grapes are predominantly Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. The volumes produced are large but a little patience in choosing what you buy is well rewarded.
An unfiltered Côtes du Rhône called Les Amies Chanteuses 2007 from Les Vignerons d’Estezargues (although I hate the label) is excellent value and is available from On the Grapevine in Dalkey, Jus de Vine in Portmarnock, Kings’ Off-Licence in Wicklow and Cases Wines, Beers and Spirits Ltd in Galway. The RRP is about €12.85.
However, I really must recommend the Domaine Grès St Vincent, Signargues, Côtes du Rhône 2007 from d’Estezargues. At €11.99 in Superquinn, this is delicious and ideal for winter drinking with coq au vin or a beef stew. Estezargues has been a very successful co-operative (Vingeron).
The Estezargues Co-operative was created in 1965, and Jean Francois Nick, who began to work there in 1989, was the originator of the individual cuvées policy that he put in place in 1995 after consulting the vignerons. They claim not to add extra yeasts and not to use filtration or fining. They do not add enzymes and only a little sulphur is added in the bottles.
Whatever they do, it tastes fantastic. Watch out for it in the next Superquinn sale.
Ciao for now,
Giovanni.