Experiment with wines of southern France

Compared with other parts of France, the wines of southern France are not widely known.

That’s because these wines, historically, have been consumed locally. While the wines of the Bay of Biscayne and of the rivers in the north could easily be shipped by boat to the markets of Paris, London and Amsterdam, the wines of southern France could only be shipped to Greece, Italy and Spain, where they make enough of their own wine. The wine could not be sold in the Holy Land or North Africa after about 600 A.D. because of the Islamic prohibition against alcohol.

From northern and central Spain through southern France to the Italian Alps, the most widely grown grape is grenache. There is more grenache grown in Europe than the “international varieties” of cabernet, chardonnay and merlot.

One of the major wine-producing regions of southern France is the Rhône River Valley. The Rhône flows through a narrow cut in the mountains between Valence and Montèlimar, a distance of about 60 miles, where there are very few vineyards. This region separates the northern Rhône wine-producing regions from the southern Rhône regions. The climate in the north is temperate, and the climate south of the mountains is Mediterranean, where grenache and syrah do well.

On the right bank is the Cotes-du- Rhône. By law — the rules of the appellation d’origine  contrôllèe — the wines of Côtes-du- Rhône must be made from syrah grapes with a dash of viognier. As along the northern Rhône, most of the grapes are grown by cooperatives and the wine is made and sold by negotiants.

Côtes-du-Rhône Villages is of somewhat better quality than Côtes-du-Rhône. Although some of the wine is made in a rosè style, the very dark, tannic, alcoholic big red style is better known. Try Georges Duboeuf Domaine Moulins at $11 a bottle or Paul Jaboulet Parallel 45 at $14 a bottle.

By the way, the latter wine is made from grapes that grow on the 45th parallel, which runs just south of Montreal. You can find a very similar wine from California, for example, Robert Mondavi Private Select Syrah at $11 a bottle. However, the French wines are generally aged longer, so you should cellar the California wine for a year or two before you drink it to have comparable taste. These wines will go well with beef steak and barbecue.

On the left bank of the Rhone is Chateauneuf-du- Pape. In the 14th century, the popes moved out of Rome, which at that time was rife with street gangs, and the princes of the church were tired of being mugged. Most of the refugee popes built their palaces in Avignon on the Rhóne, but two of them built in the village of Chateauneuf- du-Pape (“Pope’s new castle”).

The castles are now ruins but the vineyards planted more to produce dinner wine than for the sacrament are still operating. The Rhône is a fast-flowing mountain stream whose bed is strewn with soft-ball- sized, egg-shaped rocks. The soil is extremely dry, so for 700 or more years, the farmers have been mulching the vines in the vineyards with the rocks. They have the added benefit of helping to keep the vines warm at night.

The wine is made mostly (say 30 percent) from grenache but is a blend of about 15 different grape juices. By adjusting the blend, the wine is made to taste the same, even though the weather is different from year to year. The wine is red, not black, and usually one can read the menu through it.

Try Barton and Guestier’s Chateauneuf-du-Pape at $24 or Georges Dubouef’s at $11. Chateauneuf-du-Pape is extremely food friendly and will go well not only with steak and barbecue but with pork and fowl.