Christmas Wine Selection

[Nigel]

Ah oui, the unpretentious and undervalued southern French reds.

Côtes du Ventoux could make a good value Christmas cracker, Ian. Grown on the limestone slopes of Mont Ventoux (of Tour de France and Tom Simpson fame), the wines flow here from vignobles just a short tempo run from fabulous Côtes du Rhones like the mighty Gigondas, but come at less than half the price. The key is the common geology but less expensive viticultural postcode.

Perhaps my proudest professional moment was when I once acted as the external examiner for a PhD on the geology of St Chinian. I am pleased to report this as another much under-rated area with excellently scrubby and often carbonate soils on the margins of the Montpellier plain. The sublime best of the reds combine the weight of a Cote de Provence, with something of the richness of the Côte du Rhone and the peppery fire of the Languedoc. I have been subjecting the area to scrupulous re-testing ever since, and though not as cheap as it once was, St Chinian is still excellent value.

For those with more than a passing interest in the landscape of wine, there is a wonderfully colourful and quirky geologists' wine bible by the aptly-named Charles Pomerol "The Wines and Winelands of France, Geological Journeys." (1989).

For a shorter summary you could try: http://users.skynet.be/ougseurope/wine.htm

with more reading and fine pictures at: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/geology/wine/wine.html