The Caractere (about $7, purchased) is cheap French wine the way the Wine Curmudgeon remembers it -- interesting and inexpensive, and not tasting in any way like California wine. In fact, if it had a screwcap, the Caractere would be close to perfect.
It's a red blend of syrah and grenache from southern France that doesn't have much fruit (plums, perhaps?), but does have lots of earthiness and enough tannins and finish to make it pleasant to drink. Serve this with any wintery stew or beef dish, or use it to make coq a vin.
Highly recommended and a candidate for the 2011 Hall of Fame (hint, hint to the Texas wine business, which produces some quality syrah and grenache).
Texas winegrowers would love to market wines like this but we will need to use slightly different varieties. Where I grow up on The High Plains Syrah is very difficult to grow as its vegetative cycle does not fit our Terroir. Grenache is hard but doable and it fills a need in the flavor profile. Mourvedre and Carignan should be the meat of the blend with the style of the winemaker expressed in their proportion.
Posted by: Bobby Cox | February 03, 2010 at 01:05 PM