It was one of those days when it was raining and all I could think of was the old Charles Addams cartoon where Gomez and Morticia looked out the window and opined “what a wonderful day, makes you glad to be alive.”  I had some errands to do, and you know by my age, one would think that errands and bills should somehow be over with.  I thought that I would stop at my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source and see if the new club wines were out, or if they had anything interesting to try.  I guessed right on the both counts, but for now I will discuss the new club selections.

The first bottle was Les Jamelles Grenache Pays d’Oc 2015.  IGP Pays d’Oc is the current form used for the old Vin de Pays d’Oc when I was growing up.  The IGP designation is more in line with the Common Market designations and the blurring of old established country laws.  The Vin de Pays d’Oc referred to “table wines” and I am sure that plenty of people still view that designation in the same light, and the Pays d’Oc basically is the entire Languedoc-Roussillon district in France, and the largest wine production area under one umbrella.  The area is huge and there is not one common terroir or even varietal, so one can find almost any type of wine that they are looking for.  At one time, the area may have been looked at with disdain, but no longer, and there are some wineries that are now achieving price points never conceived of, because the wines they produce are worthy of those prices.  Since 1995, Les Jamelles has been produced by Catherine and Laurent Delaunay, two young winemakers from Burgundy whose family has been producing wine for four generations. After working in California, they both fell under the charm of the Languedoc-Roussillon region in the South of France.  The particular wine is pure Grenache and is grown on twenty-year-old sloping vineyard near the Mediterranean Sea.  Most of the juice is aged in Stainless Steel, I would have to presume, because only about ten percent is aged in oak for about eight months.  The wine is stated to be deep purple in color, fruit forward offering raspberry with spice undertones of pepper, cinnamon and paprika.

The second wine Primary Wines Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 carries the California AVA.  This wine is offered through a wine distributor and importer Massanois.   There were no technical notes for this wine, and I can find nothing about Massanois.  Cabernet Sauvignon is the most planted varietal across the entire state of California.  Since I have not tried this wine, I will go with the notes supplied to me from the shop.  This wine is a full-bodied with aromas of cassis, plum and berry and slight notes of dried herb and vanilla, with mid-weight tannins on the finish.  I am sure that it is an easy drinking wine with a red meat dinner.