Cepage Mystery-St Cosme

really strange...we tried a bottle of simple but very nice Cotes du Rhone this week...from St. Cosme, a pretty well known producer, no?

Yet the rear label affixed by the importer claims this Southern Rhone blend is 100% Syrah...which violates the appellation rules and the flavor profile of the wine (mostly Grenache). And, the second bottle tasted definitely mostly of grenache, as the appellation rules suggest. What makes it even stranger: An earlier bottle this week actually had much more of a Syrah flavor to it. Both bottles were purchaed 9and consumed) at the same location within a few days.

One review quoted the Syrah content

One wine that really has me skipping like a school girl is the 2007 Côtes du Rhône, Ch. Saint Cosme, made by Louis Barruol, who makes one of my other favorite value buys, the non-vintage Little James’ Basket Press, which is predominantly Grenache. While this wine is labeled as a Côtes du Rhône because it comes from the Southern Rhône – Barruol’s St-Cosme is best known for their Gigondas – it is made entirely from Syrah, in the style of the Northern Rhône. So think of this like a baby Saint-Joseph for at least one-third the price!

So...if this is a Cotes Du Rhone, how can it be 100% Syrah and still have the appellation label? And why did one bottle taste pretty strongly of Syrah and the others...several bottles...taste more like Grenache?

The winery site also references 100% Syrah.

Where did you read that CdR can't be 100% Syrah? Pretty sure others like d'Andezon, and especially CdR from Northern producers like Clape and Voge (who label their young vines CdR) are 100% Syrah.

We understand Northern Rhone can be 100% Syrah, but as a Southern Rhone appellation, don't the wines have to include a good whallop of Grenache? And Cotes du Rhone is a Southern Rhone appellation? I guess I did not understand correctly that there can be NORTHERN Rhone Cote Du Rhone properties

One of the participants did Google the appellation rules on the web for CdR and found a reference to a 40% Grenache requirement.

No Grenache required in the South. In the North, no Grenache (or anything red other than Syrah) permitted.

Your problem may be that you're thinking of Cotes du Rhone as a Southern Rhone AOC, Brian.

It's a Rhone Valley AOC. And it's different from Cotes du Rhone-Villages and from Cotes du Rhone-Villages +Named Village.

Your problem may be that you're thinking of Cotes du Rhone as a Southern Rhone AOC, Brian.

It's a Rhone Valley AOC. And it's different from Cotes du Rhone-Villages and from Cotes du Rhone-Villages +Named Village.

Ah...I was beginning to realize that this might be my error.

Like I said...I tasted two bottles of this last week. The first bottle (on Tuesday) was so definitively SYRAH.

The second one, under the malign influence of skeptical friends on Thursday, I persuaded myself had a heavy grenache component. I should have trusted my own first taste.