#1 Fabulous every day drinking value from the Cotes du Rhone

Dear Friends,

At Parabola we are obsessed with seeking out the very best value wines from all over the world and bringing them to you in perfect drinking condition.  To this end one of the many mundane chores dutifully undertaken by your wine bar team is traipsing around wine tastings, sampling through hundreds of different wines and talking to charming wine producers from all over the world. A very pleasant version of sorting the wheat from the chaff.

The Parabola Flying Wine Circus represents the very cream of the crop that we are making available in limited quantities for purchase retail. These are all wines that we love drinking ourselves and that we feel you have to know about.

Making wine buying fun, simple and reliable: welcome to the Circus.

Wine Offer

We start our wine offerings with one of our personal favourites from a region that always offers fabulous value for money, the Rhone Valley in France.

In value terms (see guide below) this is a black sheep x little brother x undiscovered star.

This is a humble Cotes du Rhone, the lowest rung of the quality ladder in the Rhone, yet coming from similar terroir to the great Gigondas. This is an outstanding wine with amazing fruit purity, freshness and elegance. It is made from a typical southern Rhone blend of 70% Grenache, 15% Syrah, and 15% Mourvèdre some of which from 60 year old vines, which lend great concentration and complexity.  The nose shimmers with toasty, fresh black berry fruits, black cherry, rosemary and thyme, while the palate charms with its supple, silky texture and cool, yet intense fruit.

Sheer deliciousness and fabulous value for money.

Don't just take our word for it - it is listed at Ducasse, Robuchon & Gagnaire in France.

Cotes du Rhone 2012, Domaine des Espiers, Rhone Valley France

Fabulous Syrah dominant Cotes du Rhone from a top producer singing with lifted black fruit and dangerously moreish.

Price: JPY 2,500 per bottle for individual bottles orders, 2,250 / bottle based on 6+ and 2,125 per botttle for 12 bottle case orders.

Number of cases available: 20

Availability: available immediately

Value Categories

The concept of value, particularly as applied to something as subjective as wine is nebulous at best and means different things to different people - you say tomato, I say potato, etc. - but for us it means wines that are significantly underpriced vis a vis their peers.

We have identified various reasons - dare we call them "value categories"? - to explain this phenomenon.

Black sheep: sometimes certain regions - or indeed entire countries (yes, I'm looking at you Germany) - are so tainted by the sins of their fathers that recent leaps forward in wine making quality fail to throw off the historical mantle of mediocrity and go unrewarded, resulting in some fantastic values.

Examples

Germany, Spain, Languedoc Roussillon, Rhone Valley & Beaujolais

Poor neighbours: some regions lie in the shadow of more famous neighbours and despite producing similar quality wines from often near identical terroir never achieve the dizzy price heights of them next door, even if in some cases - e.g. in Burgundy - the distances involved can be measured in footsteps.

Examples

Bergerac vs Bordeaux, Cotes de Francs vs St Emilion, Vosne Romanee vs Romanee Conti, Quincy, Reuilly vs Sancerre & Pouilly Fume

Undiscovered stars: in every given appelation there will be a hierarchy among producers of ability and recognition (and thus price). Sometimes - particularly in the case of young producers - there is a time lag between achieving the quality level and the market adjusting price accordingly.

Examples

Jacques Frederic Mugnier, Burgundy & Jerome Coursodon, St. Joseph, Rhone Valley

Weather freaks: most quality wine making in the world takes place in a narrow band of latitude wherein seasonal weather fluctuation dramatically affect the quality of the wine from one year to the next. Although recent improvements  in viticulture and wine making mean that a ruined vintage is practically a thing of the past, there are certainly great fluctuations between one year and the next and vintage remains very important. All this said, in some generally perceived bad years there will always be a band of weather freaks who manage to beat the weather and produce a superior wine to that of their peers. Although those wines may be as good as those produced in a "better" year, in terms of pricing the wine will always be handicapped by the perceived vintage quality rating.

Examples

Chateau Pontet Canet, Bordeaux in almost all recent "off vintages" & 2003 Vacqueyras from Domaine Bouissiere

Little brothers: many wineries make 2 or 3 wines and work on the principle that they include only the very best grapes in the top cuvee, with the residual being effectively downgraded into the number 2 and 3 wines. The lesser wines are normally sold at a fraction of the price of the top wine but wine making quality focus remains the same, these normally represent excellent value for money.

Examples

Bordeaux second wines from the top chateaux & Declassified Chateauneuf super cuvees

Gilbert Grape: grape fashions come and go: this year it may be Chardonnay, next Merlot, next Riesling. Remember for example when Shiraz was so despised in Australia that it was baked into muffins?!  Those in the spotlight naturally attract the best pricing. Meanwhile some grapes never seem to make it to the premier league hall of fame and thus languish forever undervalued.

Examples

Chenin Blanc & Grenache

How to 

Order Wine

Simply reply to this mail stating how many bottles you want and we will contact you for payment and to arrange delivery. Wines may be ordered by the single bottle but substantial discounts are available for 6- and 12- bottle cases orders.  Free delivery to your door for 6- and 12- bottle cases, single bottles available for collection from Parabola.  

Try before you buy

All wines we offer will be available for tasting at Parabola so you can buy in complete confidence.

Wine Storage

No space to store your wine? Don't worry, 12 bottle cases come with three months free warehousing in our temperature controlled facilities in Shinagawa. Bottles can then be delivered from the warehouse for collection at wine bar Parabola.