Thanks to Remy at Wine Case for picking a fun theme, “North vs. South,” for the latest installment of the monthly wine blogging meme known in wine-nerd shorthand as “WBW.” The one restriction, per Remy, is that we make sure the grape from each place is the same. Otherwise, we would be free to explore wines made from two wine regions, so long as they’re latitudinally distinct!

My pick? The Rhone region of France — and, as I tend to do, I’m bending the rules slightly. As most of you probably know, Northern Rhone wines are Syrah-based, and Southern Rhone wines are generally Grenache-based. I’ve chosen two wines that contain Syrah, but one of them contains 100% Syrah and the other only 30%. Hopefully Remy will forgive me. In fact, I sampled both of these wines a couple of weeks back at a trade tasting highlighting Rhone wines mostly from the 2007 vintage (but some from 2006). The two I’m focusing on here were among my favorites… Read more…

#8: 2005 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape
#7: 2005 Chateau Pontet Canet Pauillac

Looks like the Spectator is going heavy on a couple of things this year:

First, the 2005 vintage in France (and likely California for Napa Cabs) reigns. They’re just avoiding 2006, which makes sense for Bordeaux given that the 2006 stock hasn’t really hit the marketplace yet, but not so much for the Rhone where the 2006’s are plentiful. I guess they just don’t find the 2006 Clos des Papes as good as the 2005 Beaucastel?

Second, the Bordeaux shaped bottle dominates the Top Ten. I noticed this yesterday when I first looked at the silhouettes of the bottles, and Tim pointed to it in his comment as well. The Spectator does really seem to telegraph their choices through the graphics. Of the wines revealed thus far, only one of four is in a Burgundy-shaped bottle (the Beaucastel, of course). Of the six still to be announced, there’s but one lonely Burgundy-shaped bottle left. I’d expect this to be either a 2005 (Red) or 2006 (White) Burgundy, or a California Chardonnay.

Pinot Noir from stateside is probably a non-starter, as nobody has raved about the 2006 offerings from Kosta Browne and the likes, which were under-performers from a point-perspective.

FYI we have a contestant on the boards, with one entrant listing the 2005 Pontet (but no “Canet”) in his entry. Good for at least partial credit!

More madness follows tomorrow.