Weekly Wine Deal: 2016 'Le Petit Baron' Rhone Blend

Regular Retail: $11.99
Deal Price: $8.99 a bottle or an additional 10% off a case

Our email deal this week is the 2016 Chateau Montfaucon Vin de France Rouge 'Le Petit Baron'. Chateau Montefaucon is a smaller estate that was established in the 11th century in the southern Rhone, along the Rhone River. Before it became the estate for the local Baron, the building was less of a chateau and more of a fortification, along with many others on the river to protect the French kingdom from the Holy German Empire. It wasn't until the 15th century when the fort was rebuilt into a chateau by the Laudun family and the king of France gave the title of Baron to Montfaucon. Fast forward several centuries to 1995 when a descendant of the family, Rudolphe de Pins, returned from his wine studies and working abroad at Henscke in Australia's Barossa Valley and for Vieux Telegraphe in Châteauneuf du Pape and began to re-establish the family's vineyards. Rudolphe started with the estate's original 18 hectares and has now extended his vineyard holdings to over 60 hectares of mostly Rhone varieties, with the majority of his vineyards being over 40yrs old.

The 2016 Chateau Montfaucon 'Le Petit Baron' is a Vin de France, Rhone red that Rudolphe created as an everyday drinker. It is an equal blend of Carignan, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre. The wine shows off a saturated purple color with a vibrant fuschia rim in the glass and is packed with ripe, juicy aromas of pomegranate, plum, blackberry, balsamic strawberry, violet and kirsh. Those same fruits pervade the palate with an inky intensity and juicy character that are enough to sink your teeth into with a long, plush finish. This wine is fun and enjoyable to drink and very versatile in its ability to pair with cheese/meat boards, bacon wrapped dates, wild boar meatballs, or slow cooked barbecue ribs.