I always like to find consistent, reliably-good and affordable wines. That can be a hard thing. Sometimes you find a bargain wine you love and then the next year it’s not so good. Or you find that hidden gem, but so does everyone else and the price begins to creep up.
This wine, Bila-Haut by Michel Chapoutier, Cotes Du Roussillon Villages Rouge is one of those consistently good wines. This is the third vintage I’ve reviewed on this site, in part because they keep sending it to me but mostly because it’s really good every time I try it. It’s become one of those wines that when I need to pick up a bottle at a wine shop it’s an easy choice, because I know it will be good.
Michel Chapoutier is a well-regarded winemaker in France’s Rhone Valley and he produces numerous different wines. Bila-Haut is one of the more price-friendly brands produced under his name.
While I’ve found this wine to be consistently good from one vintage to the next, it does have some variations from one vintage to the next.
For the 2015 vintage of this wine, the nose is quite powerful and quite spicy, delivering aromas like vanilla, cherry, plum, blackberry, black pepper and nutmeg. It’s quite fruity on the palate, but still well balanced. It offers flavors like cherry, blackberry, plum and coffee. the mouthfeel is nice. The acidity is good. It finishes fairly long with spiced fruit flavors.
Wine: Michel Chapoutier, Bila-Haut Cotes du Roussillon Villages
Variety: Syrah, grenache and carignan
Vintage: 2015
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 88
Price: $15.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
