I LOVE Cotes du Rhone!  LOVELOVELOVE.  Most especially when they come in at a whopping $18 a bottle!!  And are rated 91 points like this one from Feraud-Brunel!  And it’s a 2007, which all the wine nerds out there know was a great year in the Rhone, and as such, it can be pricey to acquire a higher-end Chateauneuf du Pape and the like.  Not as pricey as these 2009 Bordeaux futures are looking (scroll through this for an example, but get ready to have a tear in your eye)… aaaand that’s enough wine-nerding for today.

Moving on to wine we can actually afford in this lifetime- this Feraud-Brunel Villages is a truly exceptional wine.  Robert Parker gave it 90 points, and Wine Spectator gave it 91.  It has the wild, exotic characteristic that French Rhone wines can so often have (it is a blend of 70% Grenache, and 30% Syrah).  Brambly, with an up-front taste of raspberries and blackberries, hints of vanilla, cloves and figs, a pleasant amount of wood (that’s what she said- boo-ya!- that was for you, Florence Wine Guy), dark chocolate, graphite and licorice.  Absolutely awesome. 

Here it sits, amidst my Monday list of things to do- which is remarkably short today- a good thing, I suppose, since I am sipping wine in the middle of the day:

If you can see that far, notice that “Saturdays” appears on my to-do list.  Why?  because we have had several abnormally quiet Saturdays in a row here at Cellar on Greene.  Busy all week, then Saturday just falls on it’s face.  I know there’s lots to do in Columbia, but do any of my faithful readers care to venture a guess about why Saturdays seem to be our slowest nights?  Or any suggestions on what you would like to see us offer that’s exciting and different on a Saturday?  Anyway, back to the wine… here is an up-close of the label so you know what you’re looking for:

Now let’s think about food pairings, just because I love food.  Would you just look at what popped up during my google search for this wine?!  One word: SAUSAGE!  Oh yes.  This wine would be perrrfect with some grilled sausages like THESE:

I could probably do without the black-eyed peas that these are sitting in, but thanks for the picture anyway, Epicurious!  I like black-eyed peas, but if a bean isn’t the toughest thing to pair with wine, I don’t know what is.  Maybe Indian food?  But the sausage sure looks delicious, doesn’t it?!  Lamb sausage would be exceptionally good, given the classic pairing of Syrah and Lamb.  This wine has such a nice spicy, smokiness to it, it would really be perfect with anything off the grill in the Summer- or if you can wait that long- something slow-roasted or braised with wine and herbs in the Winter. 

I’m trying to get back into my Celebrity comparisons that I used to do with the wines, and this one might be a bit of a stretch, but I just can’t help myself.  Since this wine is sleek and somewhat intellectual in it’s packaging, and yet also sort of a “bad boy” given it’s wild, spicy, gamey and untamed character, I’m gonna go ahead and say this wine is Robert Downy, Jr.  What?  No, I most certainly DO NOT have a long-standing love affair with him, and I HAVEN’T been just itching to compare a wine to him just so I could search for the absolute best pictures I could find!  Why on Earth would you think that?!  Well, since I must illustrate with photos, here we go:

First, here he is looking sleek and intellectual and polished:

Next, much like the wine, he reveals more of his brooding demeanor, with a hint of muscle:

And then- WHOA!  he takes his shirt off for an unexpected fight scene in Sherlock Holmes and catches you totally off guard!  Much to your surprise, he reveals himself as a total badass while still being smart and polished!  How in the WORLD did he do that?!

I can’t even get into any Iron Man comparisons… we’d be here all day and Ricky would begin to question whether I did any work today whatsoever.  So just buy the wine, show your love for RDJR, for the love of God.  Happy drinking!