Originally Posted by
lancebanyon
After many years of living here in Europe and developing an appreciation for French wine from so many different regions, Châteauneuf-du-Pape remains something of a mystery to me. We have good wine periodically from all along the Rhone valley to Languedoc-Roussillon, yet can't seem to find any Châteauneuf-du-Pape that I would want to drink twice. Yesterday I went shopping and two bottles caught my eye - a €46 Châteauneuf-du-Pape and a €26 Chambolle-Musigny. I bought the Chambolle-Musigny and when I took my first drink later I actually uttered 'oh my god' to myself. I'm going to guess if I had bought the other I would have thought, 'meh, €46 wasted'.
However, I don't want to give up on it yet - I want to get that one 'aha' bottle, where I finally get the essence of that region.
So, any recommendations for say, €30 or less, or must I up my price point to find something drinkable?
First question - what was the 46 Euro bottle? If it was Clos Pegau, or Vieux Telegraphe, it would probably have wowed you. Not sure of what the market prices are where you live, but if the lion's share of Chateauneuf bottlings are around 25-30 Euros, that's probably not a sweet-spot, quality-wise. Most of the better Chateauneuf du Pape bottlings come from small domaines and tend to sell for $45-60 a bottle in the U.S.
I might add, you got pretty lucky to get a really good Chambolle for 26 Euros - it certainly happens, but it's atypical.