Domaine de Ju Ventoux 2016

First things first: my husband and I are rabid Tour de France fans, and that race is COMING RIGHT UP. Cannot wait. I started following the race in about 7^th grade, when I started taking French at school after having heard a lot of French at home from my multi-lingual parents. One of the highlights of the Tour de France is Mont Ventoux, or the Giant of Provence. Mont Ventoux (literally: Windy Mountain, which is a bit of an understatement) is a massive, stand-alone mountain smack in the middle of Provence that is the genesis point for the Mistral wind, which is freeeeeezing and can reach 200 mph (!). I honestly love that (a) the French name their winds and (b) that the Mistral has such a lovely name for being the meteorological equivalent of one of the seven horses of the apocalypse. The Tour doesn’t go to Mont Ventoux every year because, honestly, it’s living hell for the cyclists and if something is going to go wrong, it will happen on the Giant of Provence (witness Richie Porte slamming into the back of a press motorcycle AND Chris Froome RUNNING up the mountain after demolishing his bike in a crash and being unable to get a replacement because of the crush of spectators, all in the space of 30 minutes in 2016). Regarding the Tour de France, last summer, we visited Paris for our 25th anniversary. I hadn't been to Paris since I was a student there in the (very) early 1990s (like, 1990 - 1991), and I was very much looking forward to showing the city to my husband and our two teenage children because doesn't everyone take their teenagers with them on their 25th wedding anniversary trip? Long story... At any rate, among many, many highlights of the trip for my husband was being able to sit on the overlook at the Tuileries and see Norwegian Corner and then walk the Champs Elysees and see the craziness that is the Place Charles de Gaulle (the huge roundabout circling the Arc de Triomphe that is home to the final criterion of the Tour de France in July but is home to traffic lunacy every other day of the year) as well as EXACTLY HOW NARROW the gutter is on each side of the Champs Elysees, which is where the cyclists try to ride on the criterion just to avoid the tooth-shattering pave, or cobblestones. We did a cycling tour on pave the first day we were there. I can attest to the cobblestones' bone-crushing abilities.

Needless to say, after reading about vineyards that somehow cling onto the lower reaches of Mont Ventoux, I decided I had to try some and promptly ordered a bottle from Laithwaite’s. And then I promptly received another bottle in my regular shipment, so I ended up with two bottles of this Mistral-tempered bomb of a Grenache blend. This bright red wine is a blend of 50% Syrah, 30% Grenache, and 20% Carignan, which is a somewhat run-of-the-mill grape typically used for blending following its days as the primary component in the European Wine Lake. Domaine de Ju is a super dry, very alcoholic (15%!!!!) wine brought to us by the good people behind Domaine du Prince de Courthezon just across the way in the Rhone in the Chateauneuf-de-Pape designation, so the winemaker definitely knows what he’s doing. In the glass, Ju smells like a barnyard in spring with a cool wind blowing over it. This is not a bad thing, and in all honesty, I love a ripe, barnyard-y wine on the nose because I know I am going to be rewarded with something complex, surprising, and dare I say it, sexy. Domaine de Ju is a reasonably acidic wine that tastes a bit like the mountain it’s named after: super-minerally, bright, crystalline, like a mix of tart and sweet cherries set on granite rocks and then constantly sandblasted by the Mistral. This is due to the terroir of the mountain itself and is also likely due to the “pudding stones” in the region that are used to insulate the vines and keep them warm at night and during that ridiculous Mistral wind. Ju kind of vanishes in the middle of a good sip, but then follows that with some of that serious cherry juice at the finish. There is a nice and welcome pepperiness to this wine as well.

The tannins are bright, but not overwhelmingly or annoyingly so. I discovered to my peril that I should not drink this on an empty stomach because holy cow, did I mention it’s very alcoholic? One glass in, I found myself holding forth somewhat drunkenly on a variety of things while my husband (who happened to be wearing his Mont Ventoux Running Club t-shirt, see above) tried his best not to burst out laughing. The alcohol level in it did reward me with a bit of a headache, but as with any alcoholic beverage, common sense prevails: I had a glass of water as a chaser and so should you. 

This wine is excellent with Mediterranean fare of any kind and notably good with oily fish such as tuna or salmon because the bright acid will cut through that, as well as with seafood. It would be divine with ratatouille (the Provencal vegetable dish, not the movie, although possibly also with the movie). It’s not really a wine-and-cheese wine, frankly, because I think it’s a little too acidic for that, but it has the palate-cleansing gift of both cutting through and standing up to strong flavors at the table. I think of this one as a summer wine partially because it’s bright and partially because it immediately reminds me of the Tour de France. Drink now, just not on an empty stomach or you will find yourself modifying Elton John lyrics to “get a belly full of wine” just like I did. Available to order from Laithwaite's Wine for $15.99, and the 2016 vintage is a gold-medal winner, while also holding two silver medals from other competitions.

 I decided to include some photos of a different cat this time because Peach the Zeppelin Cat was intrigued by the Ju. Peach weighs 28 lbs. For my english family and friends, I have a two-stone cat. A CAT THAT WEIGHS TWO STONE. She's a whole lotta woman. We should have named her Rosie. Spot the AC/DC reference if you dare...