24 Days of French Wine: Côtes du Rhône

Today's wine comes from the Côtes du Rhône region. It's a region some say is famous more due to scale than to quality.  The area covers 200km from Lyons down to the Camargue region, with little pockets of more specialized appellations scattered throughout.  A basic Côtes du Rhône wine tends to be fairly inexpensive.

~The details~ 

Name: Les Combes de Saint-Sauveur
Year: 2014
Region: Appellation Côtes du Rhône Contrôlée
Grape/Cépage: unlisted (probably Grenache?)
Alcohol: 12.5%
Serving Temp: unlisted (room temperature? 18-ish?)
Serving Ideas: Meats in sauce, roasted meat, poultry, cheeses
Special Notes: none

What we did: Picked a wine to fit our usual Saturday meal. A rotisserie chicken and potatoes from the morning market.  So good.

My first impression was that the wine smelled like alcohol. To drink, I got a lot of fruit and some mineral notes. Not a lot of tannins. When enjoyed with the chicken, it felt hearty and satisfying and it had enough acid to cut through all the fatty, delicious, roasted chicken skin.  Not a revelation but definitely better than a "meh" wine. It was great for a casual, sit-down, feel-good meal.