Just about every glorious adjective in the book has been spent in the name of describing 2007 vintage wines from the Southern Rhône. Robert Parker gave the wines his benediction when he wrote that it is “the greatest vintage I have tasted in my thirty years in that region.” More importantly, our own Chris Parker said “Yowza”, which we think just about sums up the epic scale of this vintage. There’s a big downside to an exceptional vintage: pricing for the most sought after wines is set as a result of the media’s proclamations and has little to do with history. In other words, all the hype can make these wines really expensive.

So you hear all the hype, but it’s really just a tease because you don’t want to drop the big coin? Or maybe you picked up a few bottles of Chateauneuf-du-Pape to cellar, but you’re itching to pull the cork on some ‘07 Rhône? What’s an average Jane to do? Well, if you’re in on this little secret, you get to follow the wine insiders to the trough of exceptional value. Drink it in… deeply. You won’t regret picking up a few bottles (or even a case – while our meager supplies last) of the Domaine Gallety Côtes du Vivarais.

This wine is from the northern-most appellation in the Southern Rhône is going to put Vivarais on the wine geek’s map. It has all the intensity, all the virtuous beauty and balance of really good Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but it clocks in at less than a third of the price! If you’re drinking this wine now, or laying it down in your cellar, you’re ahead of the curve – in five or six years, Vivarais is going to be the new Chateauneuf, and you’ll remember when it was our little secret.

The wine is bright and beautiful right out of the bottle.  It’s got a gripping nose of lavender, black cherry, anise, tobacco and freshly tilled earth. The mouth is plush, velvety sleek, and deeply layered with truckloads of red and black fruit, blueberry pie, smoke and earth. And the balance – whew, it is incredible. I think this is the real character of the vintage. Everything is bigger – but it’s proportional. Somehow, those grapes fattened up nicely and didn’t lose any of their mouthwatering acidity or grippy tannins.

With just a few minutes of decanting you can pop one of these open now. If you’ve got the discipline, cellar a bottle or six – in 4 years, you’ll be very, very happy.

Domaine Gallety Côtes du Vivarais, 2007 – $23.00