faux pas followed by a winner

i promised not to write about wines i did not like, so there was no post for sunday night. last night though was a major winner of a wine. the meal was night number two of a vegetable soup with pistou, salad, and home made bread. the soup was particularly sturdy with leeks, onions, garlic, pistou, several legumes, tomatoes, potatoes, and some hot peppers i slipped in without admitting to. this soup was a big challenge and may have been why sunday's wine went without mention.

the images give a hint of this wine. it is young. the color is an inky dark ruby. the aromas are violets and ripe black fruits. the taste begins with black cherry and blackberry and finishes with a smoky burnt jam. the tannins are firm but not obtrusive. this is well balanced. i just retasted the open bottle 24 hours later, the wine has lost nothing of its initial richness, the fruits and tannins have softened and i think this is what the wine will have after a couple of more years of bottle age. this is a wonderful young wine from a small domaine.

the wine is "domaine st pierre 2007 plan de dieu." this is a blend of predominantly grenache with syrah and mourvedre. the producer is located in the village of violes. his web site is well structured and i hope to visit him on our next trip to the region.

Domaine St Pierre
Route d'Avignon
84150 Violès.... Tél. : 04 90 70 92 64 .... Fax : 04 90 70 90 27
domaine.saint-pierre@wanadoo.fr
www.domaine-saintpierre.fr

plan de dieu? this is a relatively new appelation, outlined on the map above and granted its status in 2005; prior to that the area's wines were cote du rhone. it is north of chateauneuf du pape and west of vacqueyras.he four communes are camaret-sur-aigues, jonquieres, violes and travaillan. in a way, it is in the center of everything. historically, the area has been committed to vineyards since the 1300's and particular development occurred in the middle ages under the templar knights. the aoc only includes red wines.

les anges se sont penchés sur le berceau d'un vignoble au nom merveilleusement évocateur...
vaste plateau transpercé par la lumière, le soleil et le vent, le Plan de Dieu offre des vins touchés par la grâce ! les vins rouges élaborés sur cette aire d'appellation porteront désormais la dénomination

this is another excellent wine from an excellent region. this producer has consistent quality throughout his portfolio, which includes an excellent vacqueyras and cotes du rhone blanc, rose, and rouge.

the focus of this seeming study of the southern rhone around chateauneuf du pape, gigondas, and vacqueyras is to point out the exceptional values which can be found. there is no reason to shy from a producer's "second wine" or a wine from an aoc of which one has not heard, as these are typically great values at a lower cost than the wines from more renouned villages. look for these as an alternative which does not require a special occasion to drink.

that said, tonight is a chateauneuf du pape because of a birthday dinner. there will be a post later this week listing the wines reviewed this month.