Le Petit Roy – Boy Oh Boy!

by Patrick Sandeman

I made this simple Vin de France wine of the week after glugging almost an entire bottle of it on my own one evening this week!

One of Charles’ new finds in the Rhône valley, from a relatively unknown and very small producer in Châteaneuf (although they do make it into Bob Parker’s Wine Advocate), ‘Le Petit Roy’ is simply a Vin de France because it is made up of eveything that does not make it into the Châteaneuf cuvées, and as such carries no vintage on the label, only ’11eme année’ which is a clue I guess.

It is deceptively easy to drink, packed with ripe peppery fruit and a lovely, almost old-fashioned, ‘liquidity’, making it so very gluggable. In fact it was only having finished the bottle and looking over the rather quaint and old-fashioned label that I noticed that it is 14.5%. This really is streets ahead of the mass produced super-market Châteaneufs, and I will be drinking this rather a lot over the coming barbeque season.

It makes you sleep very soundly too!