They say that blog writing is all about attention grabbing so I hope my cheesy title to this post will do the trick. Technically I have stretched the point: Xavier Vignon's gorgeous wine is called "SM" according to the label but the letters in question stand for Septrionale (the French name for the Northern Rhone) and Meridionale (you guessed it, the Southern Rhone) so, given that this is a blend of grapes from both regions, S&M is really what it should be called. Not just any grapes, of course. The S could also stand for Syrah, the Northern Rhone's only permitted red grape (there's a statement that's bound to get a response - someone will assuredly know of a wine with something else in it that started out red) and not just any Syrah but Syrah from Cote Rotie which, along with Hermitage produces the best wines in the region. In its original outing, "SM" was called "Sacrilege" because Xavier thought purists would find it borderline o...
Musings on wine and occasional other subjects from The Big Red Wine Company's James Bercovici