France’s Rhone Valley produces a rewarding red wine

It is not just the housing market that is feeling a pinch -- the wine market has its own demons to battle.

Australian and Spanish wines that vie for supremacy in the superb value category are finding competition from the great wines of the Rhone Valley in France.

These wines now are some of the best bargains around, based on the quality versus the price per bottle.

This Pont du Rhone wine is made by a highly respected producer in the region, which has vineyards near the ancient papal residence of Avignon in the southern part of the Rhone Valley, bordering Provence.

The winemaker has blended the three main red grape varieties of the Rhone -- syrah, grenache and mourvedre -- to create a nicely complex and homogenous wine of which only 9,000 cases were made.

The soil structure in this part of France is chalky with limestone, and the climate is hot and sometimes arid because the region is not far from the Mediterranean Sea.

These conditions help produce an interesting wine that is the first wine reviewed from the wonderful 2006 vintage in the Rhone.

It is really a wine worth trying and especially at this ridiculously low price, which was spotted during the recent grand opening of a well-known specialty grocer.

In the glass, Pont du Rhone wine is a medium garnet-red color with a semi-opaque core going out into a fine violet-tinged pinkish rim definition with medium-high viscosity.

On the nose, there are deep, brooding, crushed black fruits such as mature plums, huckleberry sauce, black cherry skins with hints of spicy peppers, ratatouille, roasted meat and earthy minerals.

The palate is rich and rewarding with good amounts of forward stewed black plums, loganberries, sloe fruit, elderberry crush and underlying spicy components with firm, soft tannins throughout. The midpalate shows the typical Garrigue character that comes from arid, stony soil in this region, maintaining that cooked plum note going through to a finely balanced finish that lingers nicely with just a touch of minerality and rustic charm.

This is a forward wine despite its youth, so it can be consumed right out of the bottle. It should drink well for another three years. Try it with a cheese fondue served the traditional way with potatoes.

Wine: Pont du Rhone Prestige

Grape: Grenache (40 percent), syrah (30 percent), mourvedre (30 percent)

Region: Rhone Valley, France

Vintage: 2006

Price: $5.99

Gil Lempert Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Writ him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749 or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.