Costieres de Nimes is not a place we either know or think of when we think about value and wine. If we had to take a guess, we'd say it was a good value because it's from a place we've never heard of or we heard of, like, once before. And just as you've guessed - it is a good value.
But perhaps like you haven't guessed, it tastes great too. I mean really. tastes. great. The Costieres de Nimes is an area located between the ancient city of Nimes and the western Rhone. It was formerly in the Languedoc region, but now is a part of the Rhone. So, we love it because it gives us that southern ripe concentrated fruit, but has that thing great winemakers can do to concentration - make it just mid-weight (not heavy) and bright with acidity and texture.
Here's how it plays out - Le Petite Cassagne is made up of 30% Grenache, 30% Syrah and 40% Carignan. It smells like rose petals, cherries and a little spice. It shows some ripe cherry, black and blue fruits in the palate and is dense and wide. It has a medium body with bright acidity to lighten the concentration. It's even a bit earthy. It leaves you feeling like you had a nice big drink of wine, but doesn't bog you down by actually being big.
Le Petite Cassagne $14 a bottle
