Weekend Wine
Les Aspres is great with burgers, lamb, and everything else
By Wes Marshall, 7:36AM, Sat. Jun. 30, 2018
I have zero interest in giving numeric scores to wines. It is such a lazy way to review quality. That’s why in the 20 years I’ve been writing for the Chronicle, you’ve never seen one single numerical score from me.
When Robert Parker or the Wine Spectator give a high score to a wine, in my experience, there is almost a zero correlation to quality. One thing you can depend on is that a high score from one of them always equals higher prices. So, when Parker gave a 94 to a wine that runs $22, even if I can’t get excited that the high score equates to quality, I can still be impressed by the winery’s commitment to holding prices. Then I found out that some of their vineyards are even biodynamic and organic.
I am speaking of Gerard Bertrand’s Grand Terroir "Les Aspres,” a blend of Syrah, Mourvèdre, and Grenache. This is wine from France’s southwest region of Côtes du Roussillon. The wine is minerally, just slightly dusty, and loaded with dark berry aromas. We had it with burgers one night (is there anything that doesn’t go with a burger?) and rare rack of lamb the next. If you are an old-world wine fan like me, this is likely one of the best examples you’ll find of a high-end, yet typical, French red wine. It's worth the search.
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