France's Most User Friendly Red Wine!

Domaine Bellevue is a family-owned estate growing vines and making wines for four generations. Situated on the slopes of the right side of the Cher Valley, the vineyard is settled on a light siliceous stony ground and clayey-limestone subsoil. Patrick Vauvy took over the family Domaine in 1991 after studying viticulture and oenology

Domaine Bellevue is situated in the Rhone Valley, home to France's most user-friendly wines, and, with Bordeaux, an important source of appellation contrôlée wine. Côtes du Rhône is south-east France's warmer, richer, spicier answer to the dry austerity of AC Bordeaux, which is due north of the Rhone Valley. The wines of the southern Rhône are France's most alcoholic, with 14% or 15% by no means uncommon. The region's major appellation in production volume is Côtes du Rhône AOC.

The Domaine Bellevue Cotes du Rhone Grenache-Carignan-Syrah-Mourvedre  2011, made in this seductive countryside, is a spicy mix of Grenache, Carignan, Syrah, and Mourvedre. 

The Syrah provides red-berry fruit aromatics and a finely polished tannic structure, whilst the openly fruity character of the Grenache grape, concentrated by the relatively low yields forced upon it by the stony soils and low rainfall, lends a helping hand with a juicy ripeness and generous texture. 

Perhaps it is the alcohol that makes these southern Rhône reds so easy to appreciate. Or perhaps it's because the southern Rhône is the gateway to Provence, a land of olive trees, cicadas, sunshine and Impressionist summer landscapes.

Enjoy :)