La Vieille Ferme Red 2004 (surprisingly spicy)

We went to KN's place for dinner one Sunday night recently. Yogababe was there, and she had brought a bottle of wine for our kind hostess. It was this one, and I opened it when KN asked me if I wanted red wine. Despite 2004 not being a great year, this one was surprisingly spicy, full of flavour and sunshine, if a little lacking in fruit.

La Vieille Ferme Rouge 2004
Red wine
French (Cotes du Ventoux, Rhone)
50% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 15% Carignan, 15% Cinsaut

Nose: Pear, musty fruit, red peppers, hints of meat drippings and magic marker.
Mouthfeel: Smooth and thick - big gulps required.
Tasting: Oak, blackberries, hard fruits, spice, and surprisingly, pencil leads.

KN served spicy chicken stew to go with this - lots of ginger, chilli and spices, with roast carrots, sweet potato and parsnips on the side. Surprisingly, the wine more than held its own, with some interesting flavour notes appearing. The lack of fruit I mentioned earlier could well be because of the chicken, but the wine was enjoyable enough. For a food-wine pairing where the wine was basically chosen at random, they went well together.

La Vieille Ferme is one of the marquees of the Perrin brothers, vintners at the Chateau de Beaucastel. It was established more than 35 years ago, and the grape blend is the same as for their flagship marquee Chateau de Beaucastel, a Chateauneuf du Pape.

The wine is marked Cotes du Ventoux, which is not quite Cotes du Rhone, but is close enough. It's meant to be an affordable alternative to the Chateauneuf du Pape, and the Perrin brothers have concentrated on marketing this marquee in the US in recent years, if the number of US based review on their blog is anything to go by. Some quick googling revealed that La Vieille Ferme is extremely popular due to its perceived value for money - I agree. It's a good wine. However, it's not a great wine, and if fireworks in the mouth is what one wants, one must pay more.