Janasse Cote du Rhone 2006
The problem with Parisien bottle shops is that only the good (read, overpriced) ones carry back vintages. I dropped into a store a few blocks away looking for something interesting for a fresh bit of Munster and couldn’t find anything sweet which would hold up to it. I decided to buy a Domaine de la Janasse Cotes du Rhone 2006. I do not usually like young wine, even Cotes du Rhone and this wine was relatively expensive (at 8.5 euros) for the Cotes du Rhone market. But I figured that this producer could make a very good Rhone AC wine if anyone could.
It opened up straight away. A beautiful bright colour, lifted nose of violets and red fruits, almost pungent. The palate was smooth, no hint of what I thought would be a a hot 14 degrees of alcohol (until I tried to stand up a little while ago and failed). A very well made wine, in fact delicious now. It seems that a balance of New and Old World wine making styles at this domaine has produced a clean, approachable wine with lots of character, something to rival all the quaffing wines of the World. I wonder what it will land for in Australia because, frankly, paying $30 for this wine would take away some of the enjoyment.
