Grenache from Dave Phinney Orin Swift D66 with lamb chops

With Grenache Day next Friday Sept. 20. the French Winophiles are going with Grenache; scroll down for links. So how I could say no? I love Grenache whether it’s blanc or noir or rose!

So I hit the cellar (aka rummaging under the staircase in the below grade room) knowing that I had a wine in there that would be perfect with the lamb chops my spouse was bringing home to grill for a Friday night dinner.  And I found it: a Grenache from Dave Phinney’s Department 66 project based in Maury, France that I bought several years ago on sale at the grocery store. Phinney says that optimum growing conditions marked the 2014 vintage. 

In France, a department is like a county in the US; in the Southwest corner of the France is Department 66, in the town of Maury,  two hours east of Barcelona, Spain and thirty minutes inland from the ancient Roman port city of Perpignan.  “Cotes Catalanes” is a sub-appellation of the Roussillon, and there old vine Grenache thrives along with Syrah and Carignan. Black schist soils made from a crystalline rock that retains heat but is poor in organic nutrients and nitrogens dominate with small deposits of granite and limestone in red, rocky soils known as angile. Intense heat reflects from the soil to the gnarled, head trained vines increasing ripeness while maintaining acidity. The result is dark, concentrated, fruit with low yields. 

PS Stay tuned for more GRENACHE for Grenache Day!

D66 Grenache and lamb chops

2014 Orin Swift D66 Grenache, Cotes Catalanes, France 

ABV: 15.2%
SRP: $50? on sale $25? 
Grapes: mostly Grenache, some Syrah typically blended in with Carignan 

Appearance:  Cherry cola, brick, dense and dark for a grenache. 

Aroma: Alcohol, rhubarb, mulberry, blackberry, blueberry, brandied cherry, oak, chai spice.

Palate: Smooth, minerals,  a rich blue fruit salted caramel ice cream with cinnamon red hot sprinkles. TBH this is more like an American very ripe sweet grenache than a more typical French grenache. 

Pairing: This Grenache totally held its own with the rich grilled lamb covered in herbs and garlic. This is a substantial dish and this wine certainly has substance. The bright fruit in the wine cut through the intense flavors and fat in the lamb chops, and the high alcohol worked well with the rich lamb. Loved the herbs but especially the umami in the eggplant with bruschetta. The roasted herb fingerling potatoes balanced out the fruit well too. 

D66 Grenache with lamb chops, fingerling potatoes, and eggplant bruschetta

Go Grenache! 

Check out these posts from the Winophiles:

• Wendy is having Roasted Lobster Tails with Curry Dipping Sauce paired with a French Granache Rosé at A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Camilla is tasting A Pays d’Oc Grenache with Iberian Peninsula-Style Squid at Culinary Cam
• Terri is pairing a 2019 Milhas Grenache with Campfire Beef Stew at Our Good Life
• Gwendolyn is celebrating with Let’s Go! Grenache from France at Wine Predator
• Jeff is writing about Domaine Lafage: Sustainable Grenache from the Roussillon at Food Wine Click
• Deanna is drinking Organic Terra des Dames Wines for Grenache Day at Wineivore

PS Sorry to have been MIA the past few weeks. I’m back teaching at the local college, and I went to Burning Man which  you can read about here:

• It’s Curiouser and Curiouser Here at Burning Man 2024
• Watching Womantree Grow: Valerie Mallory’s 2024 Burning Man Honorarium Project
• What Goes Up Must Come Down: Womantree and Burning Man 2024

Also, my little sister is on hospice. And you know what that means. ALSO: Fuck cancer. 

I’ll get back on track again soon I promise. but life’s short and there’s so much to do especially when you try to do it all. So many stories to tell, and I look forward to telling them Just so sorry and sad my sister won’t be able to read some of the most important ones that I haven’t finished … and that aren’t about wine.