If You Can't Find Chateau Landure

I really enjoy Chateau Landure Minervois.  As a Langedoc wine, it's under appreciated by the French and often unknown in the US.  I found another Minervois at Total Wine several weeks ago:  Luc Pirlet, 2008.  50% Grenache, 50% Cargnan, imported by Saranity Imports, White Plains NY.  Even though it is a negotiant wine, it went well with soft cheeses, grilled steaks, and even celery (which I inevitably dipped into the soft cheeses).  Good stuff, and it was less than $10 a bottle.  I'm saddened that I only bought one.  I hope there will be more, the next time I go shopping.

Château Vaissiere 2011 Minervois

I was delighted to see a new Minervois at Trader Joe's, Château Vaissiere 2011.  It was less than $9 a bottle, sported a colorful label (which often would dissuade me), but it was a true Appelation d'Origine Controlee.  The French system of quality control did not let me know.  Château Vaissiere 2011 was refreshing, and akin to Château Landure and other fine Minervois.  It is bottled by another negotiant, Olivier Mandeville, but it does not suffer from any lapse in quality.

Imported by Lattitude Wines, Danville CA for Trader Joes, this is highly recommended.

Château Landure Minervois

this stuff, is so delicious. At 3 to 5 euros a bottle - I got mine at Greenville's Total Wine for $8, you can't beat it for a delicious dinner accompaniment. My buddy Ryan agrees, but cannot find it in Atlanta. Yum!

It is my personal opinion that most Languedoc Roussillon wines are vastly under-rated - just as many Californian, Burgundy, Hungarian, and even some Bordeaux are over-rated and over-priced.

Business Trip Fare

Whenever I travel to South Carolina or Georgia on business, I try my best to eat healthy foods, not fast food garbage and franken-foods.  I snapped this photo of my Hampton Inn hotel's work desk in Greenville last September, and misplaced the file until today. 
Wines by Total Wine:
Fontanyl Cotes de Provence ($9)
Chateau de Corntemps Bordeaux ($8)
Chateau Landure Minervois ($8)

Figs from Whole Paycheck (aka Whole Foods)
Tiny bag of Made in Nature organic Calimyrna Figs (for about the same price as the 2 lbs bag at COSTCO)
Tiny bag of Made in Nature organic Black Mission Figs (also exorbitantly priced)

Panera Bread Greek Salad, with Chicken (about $10)

I also stocked up on the Spanish Marcona almonds while there, since COSTCO Greenville had them while Avondale AZ COSTCO no longer does.  

I brought my own Trader Joe's chocolate and a cork screw in my checked luggage.  The wine and figs lasted more than a week, the almonds and chocolate 2 weeks, and I ate very little for lunch, with a sizable dinner, and typically no breakfast.  I find I have more energy, feel better, and spend less, eating smaller portions of good quality that taste great, than dosing up on HFCS and ubiquitous fast food.  It also helps when going out to lunch with colleagues with whom you're having a working lunch meeting, because when eating just a side salad, you're left with a great deal more time to discuss the business issues at hand, and update colleagues on various issues (yeah, I can be sorta loquacious at lunch sometimes).

Gerard Bertrand Minervois 2008

I do love my Minervois.  I found this Gerard Bertrand Minervois at Costco of all places for $10 a bottle, and it was as good as Chateau Landure - about which I have opined here before.  It was the last bottle at the Laguna Niguel Costco, and had been placed in the wrong bin, but I relocated it to my cart and was delighted when it rang up at just $10.  Why Americans can't relate to French regional wines and rely upon the varietal for what they like or dislike, is well beyond my comprehension.  I could take the Best of grapes, and throw them together poorly, transport them haphazardly, store them warmly, and they'd be terrible.  "Syrah / Carignan" well..   yes...  but don't forget the Grenache, Lledoner Pelut, and Mourvedre grapes as well.  Silly narrowly focused, uninformed American shoppers.

It got a 91/100 rating from Wine Speculator, which (to me) means that someone from Wine Spectator knows someone from the Chateau who knows someone, who got them several cases, and they liked it even though it was not a 20 or 30 Euro bottle.  I liked it, it's made in Minervois, and that's all that's important to me.  =)