The 2009 Domaine Bassac Cotes du Thongue Syrah delivers quality and good value.

Cotes du Thongue is a wine growing section in France’s Languedoc region, a vast area that produces much of the country’s bulk wine. But amidst its picturesque villages and valleys dotted with lavender and fruit trees are vineyards owned by winemakers like the Delhon brothers, who bring consumers good wines at everyday prices.

The Delhons were ahead of their time when in 1990 they dedicated Domaine Bassac to organic farming, following the rules of Ecocert, an international organization that certifies agricultural and cosmetic products.

Domaine Bassac’s vineyards are spread across 150 acres. Like many producers in the Languedoc, it cultivates various red and white grapes, with syrah being a focal point.

The hot climate in southern France is ideal for syrah. It’s a grape that responds well to dry, hot temperatures. At its best, syrah makes a very aromatic and intensely flavored wine with a long life, as in the wines of Hermitage, Cornas and Cote-Rotie in France’s Rhone Valley.

The 2009 Domaine Bassac Cotes du Thongue Syrah does not have the power and complexity of the wines from those renown appellations, but it does avoid the over-oaked, super-ripe, high alcohol syrah style of California and Australia.

What the 2009 Domaine Bassac Cotes du Thongue Syrah offers consumers is a brilliant red color with an herbal and meaty scent. Its medium-body deposits delicious red plum and cherry flavors on your palate, and it is balanced with mild tannins. And the wine’s long, pleasing, warm finish reflects the summer evenings of the Languedoc.

The 2009 Domaine Bassac Cotes du Thongue Syrah doesn’t spend anytime in wood barrels. This gives wine consumers the chance to taste syrah in its pure state. It has also preserved the Delhons’ desire to offer you a wine grown and made under natural conditions.

Try a glass of the 2009 Domaine Bassac Cotes du Thongue Syrah with roasted meats and roasted root vegetables. And at this very affordable price, put a case away for summer barbeques, even if all the snow and ice makes you think summer will never arrive.

The 2009 Domaine Bassac Cotes de Thongue Syrah retails for approximately $12.