Today is Wine Blogging Wednesday number 47 and the theme is the letter “S.”  For those who don’t know what Wine Blogging Wednesday is, it’s a monthly event when wine bloggers around the world all write about a common theme. The theme typically revolves around a specific type of wine or wine region, but every now and then it’s just something fun and creative.  That’s the case this month, with a theme that brings back memories of Sesame Street.

Every Wine Blogging Wednesday comes with a host who is responsible for providing the round-up of all the contributions.  This month’s host is Grape Juice, a Canadian wine blog.

With a theme that is brought to you by the letter “S” things are pretty wide open to do whatever I want.  Many wine bloggers will take the strategy of trying to find a wine that includes as many “S”es as possible. They’ll find a wine like Syrah or Sangiovese, produced in Sonoma, Spain, or South Africa, by a producer with an “S” name.  I too did a bit of that, but I wanted to find a couple “S”es that others may not focus on.  The first one is sneek peek.

Yep, this Wine Blogging Wednesday I am giving you a sneek peek at the next series (there’s another “s”) that will be featured on Cheap Wine Ratings. If you’re a regular reader you know that we’ve been doing a series on California Zinfandel for what seems like forever.  Well, that is almost complete and the final summary is fast approaching. Once that is done we’ll be featuring Côtes du Rhône wines and today we’re revealing the first wine in that series.

Saint-Esprit Côtes du Rhône from Delas

You’ll notice that the name of this wine starts with our theme-letter. The primary grape in this wine is also an “s”, Syrah.  That may be all the “S”es you’ll find in this wine, but it’s not all the grapes.  The blend is made of 70% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 5% Mourvedre, and 5% Carignan.  This is a somewhat different blend than many Côtes du Rhône wines in which Grenache is the primary grape.  The dominance of Syrah indicates that this is a Northern wine.

The nose has leather, nutmeg, blackberry and a hint of licorice.  But it is mostly leather.  It’s like sticking your nose into a brand new leather wallet.  I love that smell.  The palate is quite chocolaty and also shows blackberry, plum and a little pepper.  The tannins are fairly heavy, but not painfully so.  It is well balanced with good fruit and crisp acidity.

It scored an 86 and is an enjoyable wine at a decent price of $12.99.

Wine: Delas Saint-Esprit
Variety: Côtes du Rhône
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 86
Price Paid: $12.99

Find Delas Saint-Esprit with Snooth