Grade A Cotes-du-Rhone

The name Côtes du Rhône is a regional appellation for wines coming out of France’s Southern Rhone Valley. The area is huge: about 171 villages, with more than 100,000 acres of vineyards in a space 60 miles long and 30 miles wide. What’s more, there are a number of varietals grown in the Côtes du Rhône region, including Grenache, Mourvèdre, Carignan, and Syrah. (These are the red grapes most often associated with Côtes du Rhône; there are also white varietals such as Clairette, Marsanne, and Roussanne.)

Due to the wide variation in the region, not to mention the sheer number of different winemakers, each employing his or her own techniques, Côtes du Rhônes differ greatly in terms of quality, flavor, and character. One may be light or thin, while another with the same appellation is meaty and rich. The blends are based on a myriad of factors, ranging from the winemaker’s personal taste to how growing conditions affected individual crops. And price matters: cheap Côtes du Rhônes tend to be constructed like cheap Chiantis — a passable concoction of mediocre grapes, macerated and left to ferment into something wine-like.

Don’t get me wrong. They’re often good. Given the passage of a little time, Rhone grapes soften and become more than drinkable. But go up a notch, say from $10 a bottle to $18, and magical things can happen.

For instance, we picked up the Andezon Côtes-du-Rhône 2003 at a little wine shop on Canal Park in Duluth. It cost roughly $17 and said only “Red Wine” on the label. But when we opened it, the bouquet was clear and consistent: raspberry, blueberry, and a little leather. It tasted, strangely, like a Pinot Noir, in that it was cool and not too sweet, solid but almost entirely without tannins.

This wine, it turns out, was made entirely of Syrah grapes — a decision that likely was based upon its vintage. The summer of 2003 was torrid in the Rhone region and many crops were heat-damaged: cooked, as it were, so the wines they produced were off-balance and jammy. Many people avoid the Côtes du Rhône of 2003, simply because it’s easier — a better bet to pick up a 2004.

But vintners at Domaine d’Andezon, a 25-acre property in a village on the west side of the Rhone, were wise. They banked on the fact that Syrah grapes love sun and can withstand higher temperatures — also that their proximity to the sea would infuse the wine with a rich, balanced flavor.

They were right. This was one of my favorite wines of the past, oh, six months or so. My husband and I split the bottle over an anniversary meal of spinach salad and take-out from Pizza Lucé. French wine meets Italian sausage — now, this is our idea of great fusion food.

Here in town, this terrific mid-priced wine can be found at France 44 for a mere $15.99. May I suggest a garlic mashed potato pizza to go with it?