Even better, the 2012 Cotes du Rhone Vieilles Vignes Les Garrigues (100% Grenache) is a classic Southern Rhone with big, luscious blackberry and cassis fruit, ground pepper, herbs and background meatiness. This medium to full-bodied, rich and hedonistically styled effort will drink nicely for 4-5 years and should not be missed. Drink now-2018.
Baptiste Grangeon continues to produce a terrific lineup of wines, both in Chateauneuf du Pape and with his Cotes du Rhone negociant labels. While they can release three Chateauneufs in top vintages (a tradition cuvee, a Cuvee Renaissance which incorporates a heft chunk of Mourvedre and sees barrel aging, and a Grenache-dominated Vieilles Vignes that’s aged in older wood and tank), they only produced a single cuvee in 2011 and did not produce a cuvee Renaissance in 2012.
Importers: Wine Warehouse, Los Angeles, CA; tel. (800) 331-2829; Galaxy Wine Co., Portland, OR; tel. (503) 248-9493; George Molitor, Fine Vines, LLC, Melrose Park, IL; tel. (708) 343-6702; David Bowler Wine (212) 807-1680; ABC Fine Wines and Spirits, Orlando, FL; tel. (407) 851-0000