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Still time for resolutions: Make mine Grenache
2008 Lafage Cote Est - 9.99 ($8.99 by the case)
If Jancis Robinson resolves to drink more Riesling in 2010… I hereby resolve to drink more and more Grenache/Garnacha/Garnacas/Cannonau. This should be easy. And fun. Grenache/Garnacha is the most widely planted grape on the planet and consequently gets no respect. But it’s hardly generic. It has accents from Catalan to Valley Girl. It’s planted in big numbers in Spain, France, Australia, California, in Sicily as well as the Rhone. And colors from blanc and gris to rosé and even near black. First up is a surprise contender, Cote Est, a lively little French white dancing in the Cotes Catalanes somewhere between the southern Rhone and Spanish Catalonia. A better hint is that it’s from Jean-Marc Lafage, who rocked us with Las Rocas (great red garnacas in Spanish Catalonia). For the white he’s in old-vine France outside Perpignan. Cote Est is a juicy blend of Marsanne, Chardonnay and half Grenache (white and gris). Tart backbone of citrus and minerals, but with a heady blast of sweet peaches, apricots, honey and a dusting of white pepper. Blindfolded, I would have smelled Viognier, tasted Torrontes and hungered for sushi. If I drink a bottle a day for a year, I could write a book called “Grenache and Garnacha’’ and then a movie. Would Meryl Streep play me?
- Chris Sherman
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