Nov 162009
When the last leaves in Ohio fall, my fickle wine-love turns back to red. It’s not quite cold enough for zinfandel or cabernet, and so my new favorite French thing under $20 (It’s $13 in Ohio) is the Kermit Lynch Cuvee 2007 Cotes-du-Rhone, a blend of grenache, cinsault, mourvedre, and syrah. It’s expansive, soft but not flabby, finely-honed but not sharp. It has such an elegant scent that at first I worried it wouldn’t have that particular southern wet leaves-and-mushroom character, but it does, just woven with plum and black pepper and iron and leather. I suggest cancelling any plans for the evening in favor of The List and the Cotes-du-Rhone.