Not so Cotes du Rhone-y

The wine this evening was a 2007 Cotes-du-Rhone from Delas.  Typically, wines from the Cotes-du-Rhone are predominantly blends of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre.  This was 75% syrah and 25% grenache, although I had a hard time pegging it that way (had to look it up on the internet.)  From what I could tell, they source a lot of their grapes from the Northern Rhone (which is very different from the larger Southern Rhone) - I'm guessing that may explain why this didn't have the normal spicy, bold characteristics of a typical Cotes-du-Rhone.  I think I paid about $13 at Beverage Warehouse, but found it for $10 at K&L Wines (where I learned Robert Parker gave it a 90 point rating, not that I'm much for ratings - I'll save that rant for another day.)  

This is an excellent wine, and an example of the difference between American and French wine.  The color was pretty dark - it's young and filled with syrah and grenache, so that figures. The nose was mild, with blueberry, leather and a little spice.  The interesting part was that it tasted soft, not alcoholic (13.5% alc.), blueberry, a little spice and dark fruit.  Really nice easy finish.  Tannin was there, but blended nicely.  If you like big, bold wines, this is not the wine for you.  But it is a great wine for the money.  I would suggest decanting it for a few hours as it significantly improved over time.  Yummy.