if cru beaujolais ever gets too cool...

Then to retain my geek cred I'll start talking up much lesser-known Côte Roannaise reds, named for the town of Roanne, west of the river Loire in the Rhone-Alpes region. (Under an hour from Lyons, I'm told.) Gamay from mostly granitic soil, in the hands of a good producer these are brisk, earthy, acid-packed wines, all rust and wild strawberries. Kind of the Huckleberry Finn to Beaujolais' wilier Tom Sawyer.

I drank a bottle last night as a last-minute farewell nightcap with my friend S, who's had enough of Paris and is leaving today:

More description and a video after the jump.

Here's a better look at the étiquette: 

The producer was one Jean-François Pras. The generalized description I gave above for CR wines applies completely to Pras'; it is wonderfully proto-typical of the tiny genre. And it is currently available for a mere 6eu at La Cave de L'Insolite, a gorgeous characterful cave near Oberkampf, about which I'll post significantly more soon. 

For now, farewell S! Hello mild hangover. In tribute, here's a mostly unrelated Guided By Voices song.