Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Chateauneuf-du-CRAP???

Well as you can guess from the title this blog takes a good look at the Chateauneuf-du-Pape region in the south of France. Its famous for a couple of reasons- firstly its got a cool name, the popes new house, and a cool name is really what its all about! Just look at the d'Arenberg wines in Australia! However, cool name aside some people question the regions legitimate claim to being among the best wines in the world. It gained a huge amount of popularity when the messiah of wine Robert Parker started singing its praises all those years ago- and since then not only has the region gone from strength to strength but it has also made Robert Parker an honoury member of their village! Well can you blame them???? After all since he started promoting the wines in the states, sales have increased fourfold!! And all they do is make him an honoury member??? I'd make him King!
Anyways- so the wines are sometimes accused of not being worth the price... because they're are a little too rustic and of limited appeal. Now this is where i could go on and on about how the region allows 14 different grape varieties, and has such an array of different soil types that its preposterous to even suggest its got limited appeal! But you know what- that's not what wine is about! Its important to know these things if you're producing wine, and its even interesting if you like wine a lot! But at the end of the day, what makes wine so universally appealing is- ironically- its inconsistency. Each vintage is different, each grape is unique, and most importantly- everyone's palate is absolutely different! So i could tell you all about how i really like the wines form this region, but that's just my opinion! At the end of the day these wines just agree with my palate, not all mind, but definitely i have tried some great wines from around there and i didn't think they were overpriced or of limited appeal! So give them a try- because that's what its all about! For those who stick with the same bottle of wine all the time, that's grand but you shouldn't be afraid to branch out- lifes too short...

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