Domaine Roucas Toumba Pichot Roucas 2019

Not every bicycle wine is laughable. Take this Pichot Roucas, made by the famous house Roucas Toumba in Vacqueyras. Oftentimes there’s leftover vineyard land or extra wine from the best cuvées that needs a place to go, and this wine is just that.

Despite it’s charming, cartoony intro, this wine is serious. It’s from old vine vineyards that are hand-harvested, then it’s aged in neutral oak barrels.  

Vacqueyras is just a short stone’s throw away from Châteauneuf-du-Pape, where some of the world’s most famous Grenache and Grenache-based blends grown in thick stony soils on dry riverbeds. Well Vacqueyras is no slouch either.

This wine smells like the Southern Rhône valley: fields of lavender, sage and rosemary scrub brush, orange blossoms, and the scent of the mountains coming off the mistral wind. It’s ripe and juicy on the palate, and tastes like sunshine in a bottle.