Wine Pick: Chateau Pesquié Terrasses Rouge 2013

Southern Rhone wines are perfect wintery reds for hearty stews or succulent roasts.

If the Southern Rhone Valley is not your go-to region for wines that over-deliver in the quality-value ratio (the QPR), then it’s time to take a walk down that substantially packed aisle of your favourite wine store. The Rhone river hurtles out of the Swiss Alps where its glacier-chilled waters have sliced their way through granite and limestone bedrock on a course to the Mediterranean Sea, forming the vast Rhone Valley corridor.  Toward the south, where this colossal value wine from Chateau Pesquié has its home, the open landscape is littered with river-tumbled pebbles atop ancient seabed geology. Grapes struggle in this windswept rugged terroir, giving powerfully flavoured fruity, savoury wines that sell (unbelievably) for a decent price. Chewy, dense and warming, southern Rhone wines are perfect wintery reds for hearty stews or succulent roasts.The sheltered, terraced vineyards at the foot of Mount Ventoux (which has seen many epic battles in the Tour de France) present some of the coolest sites in the sunny Southern Rhone, allowing grenache and syrah to ripen slowly and optimally. Both grapes show on the nose of this top value gem with syrah delivering cracked peppercorn and meaty smoke, while grenache adds wild strawberries and scrubby herbal fragrance. In the mouth they combine lustily with dark fruit flavours, silky texture, sleek tannins and a dusty stamp of Ventoux minerals on the long finish. Robust food is in order, like cassoulet, rustic daube or simply a crusty baguette and slab of pâté de campagne. Year after year, this wine offers astonishing value for its very, very modest price.Chateau Pesquié Terrasses Rouge 2013$17.49France +708750