Colourful cottage wines and Brumont Gros Manseng/Sauvignon 2006

           
When I was asked to pick out the four best "cottage" wines -- inexpensive, chillable wines built for enjoyment with food and on a shoestring budget -- I put together a basket of these four. It turned out that they were the wines with the most colourful labels you could possibly assemble while browsing the aisles at my wine shop.

Coincidence?

I promise you I didn't buy these wines because of their labels, but clearly people do. The people I shopped for said that each on went down beautifully. But did they do it blind? Could they have been swayed by the pretty labels set out before them? Though we are in the middle of Wine Label Week here at Doktor Weingolb I am sorry to say that we may never know.

What we do know is that this sunny foursome of a flight started off with what must be the value wine of the summer: the Brumont Gros Manseng/Sauvignon Vin de Pays des Côtes du Gascogne 2006 -- it's the green one at the left.

It's anything but green. A nose of lemon meringue pie; a palate of grass and citrus that is pulled down by une trame de gras, or a perceptible layer of fattiness, without coming off at all oily. This wine has admirable balance, and in between, presents nice acid and weight with that smidgen of fat and sweetness on the finish.

I think this wine lacks minerality, though many people have called it mineral. Not in my books. But in my books, there's nothing wrong with not being mineral. So this wine is a bit of a cream puff, at its core I get a strong musky confit which punctuates the wine but doesn't diminish its soft, gentle and somewhat subtle elegance. Simply astounding for what was the cheapest wine of the bunch!

Pair it with a buttery or rich breaded chicken dish supported by greens or garden fare. Or have it as the best aperitif you can buy with a dozen dollars and change.

But you don't have to take my word on it.

THIS SUMMER, PEOPLE WHO LOVED A COLOURFUL GREEN LABEL

• Joe does


• The Georgia Strait does


• A BC blogger does


• Vin Québec aussi!


• Somebody writing in Oregon


• and Gang of Pour too

There are no doubt other favourable reviews I encountered during the summer for this Brumont, a wine that is better than ever (and which just HAPPENS to have a newly designed label this year... yes, it is a coincidence -- there's no established link between pretty labels and good wine.)

Click on the other cottage wine bottles across the top of the page for reviews of previously released vintages. Each of them in their latest version is delicious (except for the Syrah rosé which I have never tasted and cannot not really vouch for other than to say that it sports the reliability and great pricepoint often wielded by wines bearing the Fortant name -- now that's how to read a label! The Fortant label alone is why I bought it for my cottage-bound friends.

Led Zeppelin's favourite summertime wine? Pierre Delatour Colombard Chardonnay 2005

This ornate orange label holds behind it a simple slaking wine. In gold and green, a sundial with various odd glyphs à la Four Symbols is emblazed across the front of this vin de pays. Definite rockstar wine material. I'm thinking The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, Sonic Youth in Daydream Nation, but of course mostly this thingie.

At first taste this wine could almost be mistaken for lemon lime jello shooters served at a bar playing "Black Dog" where your older cousin has dragged you. You give the drink in front of you a chance since he's buying. Mmm. Not bad. And since there's lots of spritz, the refreshment value is certainly well delivered. Rock n' roll!

Your local bar should definitely be serving this wine. I picked up the Pierre Delatour Colombard Chardonnay 2005 because it was dirt cheap, fairly well-reviewed and white: three things I am not accustomed to seeing happen all at once. My impression is that this wine is no greater find than a Viña Sol from Torres but coming in under $10, it is much cheaper. I'd say it's easily more than a third cheaper than the everyday white bottles I buy.

The blend makes for a pale yellow colour. Its prickly mouthfeel almost generates some pucker but ends up dancing across your tongue -- a sign of a true summer wine performer. It seems to be mostly made from Colombard as there is not a lot of structure that you would think the Chardonnay grape would impart. Like the limited attributes of Vidal grapes, Colombard should be approached with a thirst that demands instant gratification. And perhaps some Zep.

Also good with a chef salad with loaded with ham and fresh yellow bell peppers.

Gascogne, France. 11.5%