Les Dauphins Côtes du Rhône

January 30, 2019

Wine & Dine Wednesday is a lovely Côtes du Rhône I picked up the other day on a 10 minute grocery shop. Let me set the scene. For anyone who catches ferry boats will completely understand. We were leaving WestWard heading back into town the other morning. TPS dropped me off at the Vashon Thriftway and then went to get us a coffee and a sweet for the boat. I had that amount of time to shop before he swings by to pick me up for us to then race to the ferry. Game on! I have written this before and will a million times more, I ADORE our island grocery store. Everything about it, from the helpful & kind folks who work there to the incredible variety of goods they offer–all top notch. So a quick shop for the week to augment what we already had back at the apartment was my task. I know every aisle quite well, as it has been 20 years of shopping them, and typically not on such a tight deadline. I knew I wanted to find a wine to serve with a few meals this week. Côtes du Rhône is my red ‘go-to’ as it pairs well with food and is not generally crazy expensive. Well, well, well, as I rounded the corner to the wine section this stylishly graphic bottle caught my eye. With a few minutes left on the clock, I quickly scanned the bottle. Then the price jumped out at me. 10 bucks. Done! I think of this as ‘table wine’ which is easy, breezy to drink with a simple weekday supper. It makes me think back to our many trips to France over the years and the tasty wines served in ceramic pitchers in cafes. This is that type of wine.