2006 Collin-Bourissset Cotes du Rhone Reserve de la Closerie

I picked this wine up at the store tonight for 2 reasons: 1) It was on sale. 2) I'm intrigued by the somewhat suspect provenance of this wine. Collin-Bourisset is a fairly prolific (admittedly somewhat scattered) Burgundian winery. Or so I thought.... So why have they produced a Cotes du Rhone? And why is it bottled in Burgundy? Turns out that, in addition to wines from their own vineyards, Collin-Bourisset also trades wines from a number of other French regions. So, still a little suspect, but mystery at least partially solved.

My second clue that this was not a Burgundy (after the label, of course), was the color. Much deeper than a pinot noir and not nearly as purple as a beaujolais. Quite a lovely ruby red, just paling to orange at the rim. The nose is ripe with red currant, caramel, and a hint of black pepper and smoke.

The aromas don't really carry over to the palate, although the finish is quite long and has some developing fruit. The structure is balanced and strong, with enough acid to make your mouth water, but not enough to cause any puckering, which is exactly what I expect from a Cotes du Rhone. The tannins are present, but soft and pleasant. Although it's not complex in flavor and is a little hollow in the middle, overall it's a very nice sipping wine and would go really well with roasted chicken and root vegetables (it's possible I think that because there is a lovely rotisserie chicken waiting for me in the chicken, but I do believe it will be a good match)! I give it an 84.