EAST COAST PALATE

The 2007 vintage in the Rhône valley is impressive, and many critics are touting it as the best year in the last couple decades for Chateauneuf-du-Pape blends, but let's forget the Côtes du Rhônes.  Many Chateaux have limits on how much CDP they can produce, and a lot of high-quality wine is going into blends like this one that cost under 20 bucks but still bring some serious flavor to the table.
This 2007 Domaine de la Solitude has some strawberry/blackberry notes that hover just above a sweaty funk that gives this wine a well of aromatic depth.  The slate smell is in there.  There's some black cherry.  This wine smells dank and earthy.  It smells beautiful.
The mouthfeel is rich, with tannins and acids in perfect harmony.  There is a chalkiness that seems to accentuate the minerality and earthy aspect of this wine, too.  Most impressive about this product is the balance.  Some wines are 'good.'  This one is a composition.  I love it.  It an A, 93 points, and I bought it for $13 (on sale from $17)at The Wine Source in Baltimore.  Even though that Domaine Lafond CDP was a B+ for me, why would I get it ever again when I know that I could get 2 bottles of better wine for less money?  If I seemed a little worked up, it because this wine really just does it for me.  It is good enough that I might have to order a case. 

This wine had me very excited when I smelled it.  Sticky sweet molasses, mulling spices, resin, flowers, fresh mushrooms... a symphony of aromas eminates from this wine.  The enchantment dissappears, though, after the taste.  It is smooth with a lush mid-palate followed by a tart bite and then a too-quick finish.  Buying this wine for $20 doesn't bother me, but the fact that its original listed price was $47 sort of seems ridiculous.  The magic in this wine is purely olfactory... but I would pay $20 again to smell the complexly woven quilt of aromatics in this wine.  With the acidity that this wine has, I'd like buy a few bottles and try them a few years from now.  Aromas get a 95, overall the wine gets 87 points from me.

Cold Monday morning.  Last night I fell asleep watching football after eating 2 pounds of delicious cajun wings from BWB.  A few minutes after waking up I decided to taste some wine with an untainted palate, so I grabbed one of the brown bagged bottles sitting in the rack (I have to admit the process can't be called a blind tasting because I know that 8 of the 9 bottles there are French).  Making sure to not look at the cork, I poured myself a few ounces.  Ruby color, aromas of cherry and wet stones.  I thought, this beats the hell out of coffee.  The wine has a bit of a synthetic cherry thing going on, but its balance of fruit and earthiness is solid.  On the back of the tongue the wine leaves a bitter flower petal residue that gave it a weird finish, but all-in-all a good product.  I'll give it a B (86-87).  After unveiling the bottle, it is Paul Avril's Le Petit Vin d'Avril (NV).  The Chateauneuf de Pape big brother of this wine is the best in the world from '07 according to Wine Spectator (who, incidentally, rated the Petit Vin an 88).  
I paid $18 for this wine, but you can find it elsewhere for less.  I would recommend finding it for less.

So it begins.  An aftertaste of bacon and mushroom omlette and coffee still lingers as I venture in to a bottle of 2007 Côtes du Rhône - the Réserve by Perrin et Fils - that I opened last night after work.  Some say that the palate is freshest in the a.m. hours, and so best for doing tastings.  This wine is young enough that 12 hours time (with the screwtop cap back on) definitely will help it open up.  Last night I noted that the initial aroma was like raspberry jam smeared in an oiled up baseball glove.  The plummy and peppery flavors had to fight a bit to get through the alcohol's heat (a surprise given the 13% alc./vol.) , but the fresh fruit and acidity came though nicely.
Alright...pouring a glass.  Vibrant red in the sunlight coming through my bedroom window.  The cherry and raspberry notes don't have to elbow their way past that pungent chemically alcohol burn any more.  Not a fruit bomb by any means, this wine now seems more subtle, but the leather component is still there. 
A sip... ripe cherry and that peppercorn spiciness (likely coming from the 20% Syrah in the wine) come through on the palate, with some of that tartness that would be in a not-quite-ripe plum.  It's not a complex wine, but it's well made and decently balanced.  Last night I rated this blend as a B wine, which is to say in the mid 80's as far as points go.  This wine only costs ten bucks, so for the value it's a great wine to have on a weeknight with some takeout Italian from Mamma Lucia's.