... okay, so it's really a luxury to invest in the high end wines, so you can imagine why Chateauneuf-du-Pape is typically not an everyday dinner type of wine. Especially since you can find (and I certainly do find!) many very complex, concentrated, delicious wines under $20 made from similar grapes (grenache, syrah, mouvedre) from the Languedoc.

Yet Chateauneuf-du-Pape remains the international standard of one of the best wines in the world. Not sure if you know the story, but apparently the Pope of Rome found this wine to be so incredibly delicious he left Rome and moved the entire religious court to Avignon (the major center of the Southern Rhone, where this wine is made) so he could enjoy it on a daily basis. From 1305 to 1378 seven Popes enjoyed the good life -- wine, gorgeous sunny weather, very close to the sea. Today this period is known as the Babylonian Captivity (apparently in reference to a luxurious, hedonist time in history).

So it is a very overcast, grey, Halloween day in Manhattan, and I pop over to a favorite wine store to buy a great lunch wine for myself and a friend. Something red that brings the flavor of the sun. I chat a bit with the proprieter about various things relating to recent wine examinations and my recent blind tasting of Chateauneuf-du-Pape (CDP). We decide to purchase a CDP, and among all the CDPs in the shop he recommends the (pricey!)  Domaine des Senechaux. It's over $20 over what he calls the "acceptable" and "still good" CDP priced at $34, yet I go for it.

I am tasting it now decanting it an hour and it is fabulous. And you know what? I do feel a bit hedonistic drinking this wine. It is so multi-layered and complex it is a bit sinful. And yes, to answer the question forming in our mind, you do not get this incredible concentration of flavors in the under $20 Languedoc wine I mentioned above. Describing these flavors of rich cocoa powder, vaninlla bean, coffee grounds, ripe concentrated strands of crystallized red fruit would be akin to describing a shimmering jewel.

I was in the S. Rhone and visited many Chateauneuf-du-Pape producers. While I found all to be quality oriented, these are VERY small operations. If you have been to the Napa Valley and use the modern, high tech, "visitor center" style of wineries to be the worldwide norm, you will be surprised. Many times the English-speaking daughter or son of a winemaker was our guide, with the parents trailing behind and seeming most curious to know what was being said. 

This is a great food wine to enjoy with a variety of dishes .... of course, grilled lamb or steak. Fish eaters can pair this with grilled salmon with lots of fresh cracked pepper and roasted root vegetables.

Do you have a favorite CDP? I'd love to try it! Please use the comment feature to let me know why yours rocks!