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…

Simon of Larchmont Wine & Spirits sends us his monthly dispatch. He didn’t send us the price, though, so we’ll have to get back to you on that one. We think that it’s probably in the $12 a bottle range, plus or minus a buck or two. Not widely available, so call Simon at (323) 856-8699 to pick up a bottle. In the meantime, Simon says:

OK so a Cotes-du-Rhone red may not be the most startling or original choice for our monthly promo, but this wine is one of an increasing number of lovely offerings from this area that will banish the memories of rather rough, peasanty stuff that carried the name in the past. Of course there is still a lot of filthy muck out there under the Slopes of the Rhone appellation, but we found this new-to-this-market example to be just what we look for in this category.

This is made from 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah by a small family-run winery that sources fruit from 80 year old vines just outside Gigondas in the southern Rhone valley.

Deep purple in color, the nose is forward and stuffed with red and dark berries, red plums, liquorice, smoke and soft spices. Full bodied and complex, the wine has plenty of stuffing on the palate, good length and ample ripe fruit.

As we ease into the fall, this can take care of any heatwave-induced barbeque fare. If we get a chilldown, warming comfort foods like cassoulet or a game stew will match just perfectly with a wine like this. –SC

Our first ‘domaine547 selection’ is a deep, brooding and delicious Syrah, made by the fine folks at Stolpman Vineyards. It’s due to arrive very soon, and is on special at a mere $20 a bottle. Get some, open it up and drink it in. We’re super-excited to share it with you. What’s that? Whatsit!

Quick tasting note for Wine Blogging Wednesday #47, hosted by Grape Juice, a Canadian wine blog extraordinaire. We tasted the 2004 l’Aventure Estate Syrah from Paso Robles at a dinner party on Saturday night, so the “S” in this case comes from the grape variety.

Sorry we couldn’t get a whole lot more creative than that and also encompass the producer, region, or fantasy wine name. If we weren’t being all economical and whatnot, perhaps we would have cracked open a Super-Tuscan from Sassicaia. Oh well, next time this theme comes around, perhaps we won’t be in penny-pinching mode (brought to us by the economic downturn not to be referred to as a recession).

In any case, back to the wine…the 2004 l’Aventure Syrah was a bit of a disappointment. Too big, too bold, too everything. But mostly, it smelled and tasted of Dimetapp which was a big flaw for us, though we’re pretty sure there was nothing “off” about the bottle. Just too grapey and medicinal for us. We couldn’t get past it. Apparently Dimetapp is now some sort of controlled substance, though our parents didn’t have an issue plying us with it when we had the sniffles in the 1970s and 80s. Ah, those were the days…

There’s a silver lining, though. Considering we used to guzzle Dimetapp proper when we were more regular viewers of Sesame Street, the originator of the “brought to you by the letter…” theme, we think this is the perfect wine for this particular Wine Blogging Wednesday. Even if we plan to never drink it again.

Cheers!