Rhône reminiscences, rising prices
Recently I reminisced about loving the most basic vin de pays when I first went to Paris. Today let’s celebrate what came next: Côtes du Rhône!
That first sidewalk café experience was very much budget-driven. I was in Paris on my own for the first time and loving it, but I didn’t have a lot of money. Trying to figure out the drinks, er, boissons menu in my fractured French, I figured that I could get a petit pichet – that’s got to mean “little pitcher” – of vin rouge for just 4 francs. That was a little less than a dollar at the time, and that sounded like a deal.
I wandered away happy afterward, full of red wine and spicy merguez sausages and ready to move on to discovering more sights of Paris.
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And sure enough, I came back another day and looked over the menu again, ready to explore. It didn’t take long to notice that there was an entire hierarchy of wines on the list. Some of them were priced out of my reach, but just below Vin de Pays was something called Côtes du Rhône. It was 5 francs – only 25 U.S. cents more than the cheap stuff for a two-drink pitcher – which seemed entirely reasonable for a new experience.
Whoa! Even with my inexperienced palate, even realizing that an unlabeled café wine probably wasn’t the most ethereal wine around, I could sense a distinct difference. It wasn’t as harsh, it somehow sang with a spicy, greasy Mediterranean sausage, and as a friend would later say of another wine, “there was a lot going on in it.”
Parisian bistros and cafés still offer modest wines in small (50cl) pichets, but you’ll pay something like €10 for it now. That’s still a good deal by modern standards, and it will still go very well with sausages or other street fare. But it does kind of hurt my head to recognize a 900% price increase over my life in wine.
Later on, as I learned more about wine and explored France beyond the City of Light, I traveled through the Rhône Valley often and learned more about some of its more elevated (and expensive) wines.
We’re not claiming that Kermit Lynch Selections Côtes du Rhône Villages is a baby Châteaneuf-du-Pâpe, but producer Vignerons d’Estézargues’s vineyard near Avignon boasts similar galets roulêts, the characteristic rolled stones that help ripen the grapes by reflecting sunlight.
But I still love Côtes du Rhône, and its just slightly more fancy sibling, Côtes du Rhône Villages, made in designated vineyards around the villages that dot these sunbaked hillsides that have earned special attention for their consistently high-quality wines.
And, of course, I still watch the prices of the wines I enjoy, seeking the kind of balance of cost and excellence that wine nerds often call QPR, short for “Quality-Price Ratio.” Such a wine is today’s featured bottle, Kermit Lynch Selections Côtes du Rhône Villages, a collaboration between Lynch and Les Vignerons d’Estézargues, a co-op cellar located just across the Rhône from Avignon. Founded in 1965, Estézargues has championed sustainable and organic viticulture and natural winemaking for decades.
A tasty, typical blend of Grenache-dominant Southern Rhône, it’s an excellent value at prices from the middle teens into the lower $20s. Let’s hope it stays affordable.
Today’s curious question: Are you seeing any effect of tariffs on your local wine prices?
Today’s Tasting Report
Cave des Vignerons d’Estézargues 2023 Côtes du Rhône Villages ($20.99)
Balanced and appetizing, Kermit Lynch Selections Côtes du Rhône Villages is a typical Southern Rhône blend of 58% Grenache, 32% Syrah, 3% Carignan, 3% Cinsault, 2% Mourvèdre, and 2% Counoise from vineyards averaging 40 years old. Scents of raspberries, plums, and a hint of black olives lead into a textured flavor, dry and properly acidic, with soft tannins and subtle floral and stony mineral hints in a long finish. Certified organic, the wine was naturally fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged 8 or 10 months in concrete vats, then bottled unfiltered with minimal added sulfur. 14.5% alcohol. U.S. importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, Calif. (July 19, 2025)
FOOD MATCH: Grilled steaks, juicy burgers, or roast chicken are this wine’s natural partners. Consider roasted vegetables or hearty mushroom or lentil dishes for a plant-based match; a Beyond or Impossible burger works just fine if that’s your style.
WHEN TO DRINK: There’s absolutely no rush to drink it up, but it’s not a likely candidate for cellaring. I would drink up the 2023 vintage this year and next.
VALUE:
This is a decent value across its range. Wine-Searcher.com shows a $19 average U.S. retail price, and I paid a dollar or two more, but many vendors offer it in the mid-teens.
WEB LINK:
Here’s the importer’s info page. Kermit Lynch provides more background information here.
FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Check prices and find vendors for Kermit Lynch Selections Côtes du Rhône Villages on Wine-Searcher.com.
Read about the Côtes du Rhône Villages and browse many wines and vendors at this Wine-Searcher link.
This Wine-Searcher link offers details about typical Southern Rhône red varietal blends.
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Good wines we’ve tried under $10.99!
Want tips to find more good, inexpensive wines? Here are Wine-Searcher links to vendors and prices for a bunch more wines for $10.99 or less that I’ve told you about in recent years. In some cases, the prices may have risen over the $10.99 mark since I reviewed them, but they should still be excellent bargains. Please tell us about your favorites!
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mouth? watering.
Great post Robin. Love the tasting notes and pairing suggestions. I am officially thirsty and hungry after reading…and I am experiencing a bit of wanderlust. Cheers!