Welcome back to Adventures of a Black Belt Sommelier.
If you've tuned in for very many of these podcasts that I've been sharing, you know that one of my strong theories for buying excellent affordable wine is to buy the entry-level wine from really great winery.
Because somebody that makes really great wine is not going to ruin their reputation by making really terrible entry-level wine. Boy, do I have an example to prove that theory to you today?It's this one right here.
I know I can't figure out the part of that, that makes it backwards.I'll work on it.I promise.But this is the 2019 Andre Brunel, Grenache, just Grenache.Andre Brunel is a great winemaker.He makes really great Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Really great.
I'm not telling you that this wine is the equal of his Jasmine Lefty Pops, white or red, but at its price point, which is somewhere between nine and $12, it is an off the charts value.
It's not, I'm not telling you it's the most complex wine in history. I kinda feel like I'm on a roll lately.Everything I open is just, no matter how inexpensive it is, seems to be pretty great.
And I promise it's not because my level of expectation for wine is diminished.If anything, it's increased.But I just have been really lucky.This wine is, to be honest, I bought it for $5. And, um, I think it's easily the best $5.No, I'm sorry.
I bought it for $4.Um, and, and I, I didn't get it for $4 at the store where I work with the employee discount.I bought it retail $4. Um, I wish I'd bought more.Um, it's not the most complex wine in the world.
It doesn't taste like it's not the equal of a shot on a few pops, but even at nine to $12, this is, it's just the fabulous, delicious wine.It's it's medium bodied.
It's got loads and loads of red fruits, you know, raspberries, strawberries, um, red currants.It's got this, you know, at five years old, the tenants are. completely integrated, so the palate is very soft and satiny, velvety on the palate.
One of the things I love about it is that it has a screw cap.It really irritates me when I have to use a fork screw to open a wine that wasn't intended to benefit from bottle age, although this wine has benefited from bottle age.
but I just think it's stupid to use a cork on a wine that sells for under, I don't know, $25 or $50 or I don't know.But certainly this wine should have a screw cap.It should be easy.
I will tell you that one caveat on screw caps, it's a good idea to open the wine at least 15 minutes before you drink it if it has a screw cap because there's that plastic liner inside the
screw cap, and often the wine smells like that plastic when you first open it.But anyway, that's off topic.This wine, it is.I had it with dinner last night.I actually had it with national hot chicken.
Um, it was, it's just, it's just a fantastic wine and it's very, very affordable.And if you can find the 2019, that that's a plus that might be hard to do.But if you find the 2021, it's not going to be very different.It's just going to be younger.
Um, you know, there's a lot less vintage variation in wine than there used to be because of global climate change, the grapes get ripe every year, especially, certainly in the Southern Rhone Valley.
Um, so this is just a simple, straightforward, hedonistic, delicious, pleasurable, wonderful wine that way over delivers at its price point.
And, you know, you could honestly, at the price I paid for it, I could pour it in an ice cube tray and freeze it and, you know, take out cubes to cook with.Um, Look for it.It's, it's fantastic.It's just fantastic.
It's like, it's kind of like cashmere in your mouth.It's just so soft and rich and velvety and, and, uh, caressing and delicious.Thanks for tuning in for adventures of black belt.So many, I appreciate every single type you do.
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