If you are heading downtown to stock up on the delicious and affordable reds from France’s Rhône Valley recommended here last week, you might want to stop in Chevy Chase on the way.
Paul’s Wine and Spirits on Wisconsin Ave. in Friendship Heights (more convenient to you Montgomery County wine drinkers) today announced its “Inventory Reduction Sale,” slashing 20 to 30 percent off Rhône Valley wines in the store. Among them, as noted last week, is the 2009 La Grand Ribe Cotes du Rhone Villages Centenaire that Robert Parker of Wine Advocate says “tastes more like a Chateauneuf du Pape than a Cotes du Rhone.”
And instead of the $12- to $13-a-bottle sale price highlighted last week, Paul’s is selling the wine Parker scored a whopping 91-93 points for just $10.49 a bottle, easily the lowest price in the country.
And if $10 is still too rich for you blood, there’s another awesome $8 bargain on a perennial Rhône favorite – Perrin Côtes du Rhône Réserve 2010 – at Chevy Chase Wine & Spirits. And the Chevy Chase price of $7.99 a bottle for a wine Parker called a “top value” at $18 is also the lowest price in the country. (It’s also on sale at for $7.99 Schneider’s of Capital Hill, but appears to be sold out.)
[CORRECTION TO THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THIS COLUMN: The Chevy Chase Wine sale price is good through March 9.]
The red – a member of our Top 5 French red wine values list – is a blend of 50 percent grenache from the Perrin family vineyards at Grand Prebois (adjacent to the Beaucastel estate), 20 percent syrah from further north in Vinsobres, and the rest is carignan, cinsault and other Rhône grapes. Parker describes the wine as offering “abundant amounts of red and black fruits intermixed with hints of tobacco leaf, earthy soil, pepper and spice.
“This supple-textured, delicious red is exactly what one expects of a very good Cotes du Rhone.”
Wine Spectator’s James Molesworth called it, “A light-bodied, floral style, offering violet, high-toned cherry and damson plum notes that carry through the sandalwood-framed finish.” He listed a more typical price of $11 a bottle, but at $8, this is one to buy by the case.
Molesworth also liked the white 2011 Perrin Côtes du Rhône Réserve, which he called, “A light, fresh style, with unadorned melon and honeysuckle notes and a breezy finish.” Parker wrote that the blend of 50 percent grenache blanc, 20 percent viognier and the rest marsanne and roussanne, “has loads of minerality along with some tropical fruit notes and intriguing white currants and quince.
“It is truly a serious wine and an ideal aperitif or food wine,” he adds.
Chevy Chase wine has both the white and red on sale, as does MacArthur Beverages for $8.99. Total Wine in Maryland also sells the red for $8.99 a bottle, though the white costs $10.49, while in Virginia the red costs $9.99 and the white $10.99. That compares with $10.99 a bottle for both the white and read at Calvert Woodley and $11.35 for either at Montgomery County Liquor stores.
You likely won’t be disappointed with either wine at any of these prices, particularly if you’re just buying a bottle or two to try. But these are wines that pays to stock up on, and saving $36 on a case may be worth a stop in Chevy Chase.
Cheers!
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