[QUOTE=lancebanyon;19163011

We really need a "What are you drinking tonight thread" for wine drinkers. Last night I opened a cheap Crozes-Hermitage for our second bottle late in the evening and after sticking my nose in had to call my wife over to tell me I wasn't crazy - it had an absolutely unmistakeable aroma of latex, like a condom or balloon on the nose! And to top it off it tasted strongly of grapefruit. Who would imagine such a drink being appealing[/QUOTE]

if it has a good looking label, and the purveyor claims parker of ws gave it a"90" not only will it sell like hotcakes, but most of the wine drinkers will say "yum, yum" and come back for more.

Parker would need CPR if he tried this wine. Definitely one you only want to open when it's late, you're buzzed already, and you want that last push over the edge. Think Boone's Farm, if they still make that.

Could easily have been a corked bottle - latex is one of the aromas that can be given off by a defective cork.

Okay, just to close this out, we decided (purely for scientific reasons of course...) to try a variety of Rhone wines over the past week, north and south, based on some of the recommendations in this thread. From the north we had Cornas, Cote Rotie, St. Joseph, and Crozes-Hermitage, and from the south we had three more CDPs, Gigondas, and Rasteau (we also had four wines from Languedoc-Roussillon as 'palette cleansers').

Of the northern Rhone wines we liked the Cote Rotie the best. I think the Cornas would probably be great - in six or seven years. Just felt like it needed more time in the bottle. I liked the Allan Graillot Crozes-Hermitage a lot as well. The St. Joseph didn't really compare well with the others, but was significantly cheaper and still quite drinkable.

From the south the Gigondas and Rasteau were both great value and very drinkable also. Two of the CDPs were great, however, the cheapest one tasted like grappa. We couldn't get it down but I did give a hell of an effort.

After all this drinking I think I finally get it. I find myself now sort of craving the mouthfeel of those southern Rhone wines. The better ones were soft and gave a sensation of the wine melting in your mouth. It's very seductive and I can understand now why people pay good money for it.

Heading to the states for a couple of weeks - hopefully my liver will recover

Well, as I said in my summary of the various Rhone regions in reply #9 of this thread, Cote Rotie is almost universally high quality stuff, but it is also among the priciest of all the Rhone regions, because of that consistent high quality.

In any case, Cote Rotie producers to be on the lookout for:

Guigal (unfortunately, Robert Parker sent this guy's wines skyrocketing in price about 15-20 years ago, and they have stayed in the stratosphere).

My personal fave: Michel et Stephane Ogier - in the interest of full disclosure, I'm highly biased about this producer, because they graced me with incredible hospitality during a visit to the region about 15 years ago - including gifting me with several rare and spectacular bottles of older vintages that I had inquired about buying from them, after a fantastic dinner and tasting at their home/domaine, arranged by a mutual friend.

Robert Jasmin

Jean-Luc Jamet,

Rene Rostaing

Domaine Gangloff - very exotic, almost savage wines - less refined than say, Guigal, Ogier or Jamet's wines, but really interesting - might be an acquired taste

Henri Gallet

Clusel-Roch - might be more inconsistent than the other domaines listed here.

I consider myself an avid fan of Châteauneuf-du-Pape...

I like the Château Mont-Redon... an excellent bottle every time.

http://www.chateaumontredon.fr/index%20an.htm

La Janasse has a really wonderful lineup.

http://www.lajanasse.com/

Kirkland labeled from Costso. I kid you not. $20 and a real diamond in the rough. Worst case you're out $20.

i think 20 bucks is way too much for a chatenauf. fool that i am, i could not pass up a couple of cases of 2000 clos du calvaire(domain du pere pape. a louie latour import) cork branded mayard. i paid 180 a case, even this is a bad deal to my taste. will feed it to my wife....

http://www.chateauneuf.dk/en/cdpen62.htm

As a DC local like you, I'll take a few bottle off your hands for a fair price! And your wife will never have to know... :)

No kidding, I am stateside and would gladly take some of that for $20! I'm drinking a Russian River Valley for that price tonight and wishing I was home. Definitely need to learn more about American wine so I can pick winners. Last RRV I had a couple of months ago was amazing. Too bad I don't remember what it was.

I admire your generosity and sacrifice to assist another FT member in need.

Costco got this in bulk from the Domaine de Nalys, which is a well regarded producer in Chateauneuf du Pape. I was surprised that they were allowed to state this on the label, as typically, these sort of deals are done in a hush-hush manner. It's very possible that they got the entirety of the Nalys production that was earmarked for the U.S., so that Domaine de Nalys did not find themselves and another U.S distributor of theirs (who would surely have been quite pissed-off) competing on price with their own wine.

Here are a couple, a cheap one and an expensive one:

http://www.winedrop.co.uk/chateauneu...du-rempart~216

http://www.winedrop.co.uk/chateauneu...eaucastel~1154

Thanks, and welcome to FT by the way! I think I had enough CDP over the past six weeks (maybe 20 to 25 bottles) that I've finally satisfied myself as to my original question. Of all that I tried (and can remember) I think Vieux Telegraphe and Usseglio were probably my favorites. Didn't particularly care for Charvin or Marcoux, which came highly recommended by my local wine seller. Along the way had maybe 5 or 6 Gigondas, which were okay, not special, and a Vacqueyras which I couldn't drink. Seems to be a fine line with these wines between great and crap.

Turning next to Bourgogne Blancs. I've never been much of a white wine fan, but recently I ordered a Saint Aubin 1er Cru en Remilly (by mistake actually) and I'll be damned if it wasn't great. Definitely sparked my interest in those wines. We had had a CDP blanc and a Condrieu along with the other Rhone wines, and neither did a thing for us.