Weekend Wine

One of the everlasting joys of French wine is that there are so many obscure labels, many not even available outside of the town they are made in. Unfortunately, not many of us can devote the time and money needed to really understand any of the areas.

Photo Courtesy of the Winery

Plus, who carries all these obscure wines? Luckily, each major area usually has a widely distributed winery that also produces great wines.

We’ll start with a few names you should pay attention to whenever you run across them. These are wineries that are large enough that you should have no trouble finding their products without having to luck onto them at some obscure restaurant. As with any such list, I am leaving out a lot of magnificent wineries, but the point of this little list is to help you feel confident about ordering wine from an area that you may not be conversant with. Wines like Louis Jadot and Joseph Drouhin from Burgundy, Alsace's Hugel and Trimbach, or the Rhône's Chapoutier and Guigal

This weekend I want to focus on Guigal family of wines. The easiest Guigal wines to find are their line of Cotes-du-Rhône wines, white, red, and rosé which all run about $12. My favorite Guigal wine, though sadly hard to find amongst the central Texas offerings, is their Crozes Hermitage. They make both a white ($23) and a red ($25), either of which pairs nicely with food from the Rhône, so think onion soup, sausages, or even a nice seafood tower. My favorite meal to go with these Guigal wines is a picnic with a fresh baguette, some top notch olive oil, a lightly dressed salad with bitter greens, and a main course of a crusty onion quiche. Trust me, it will get cool enough to have a picnic. Someday soon!