Crozes-Hermitage Paul Jaboulet Aine "Thalabert" 2003

A working trip to NY lead to having dinner at Sparks -- and an excellent wine for a very good price.

Sparks is an absolutely delicious steakhouse to eat at. The steaks are sooo juicy and tender that they can be cut with a butter knife. A strip steak and a baked potato will leave one full for hours – and the price is great for the quality of the meat.

But since this is a wine blog, I felt I would do a disservice to any of my readers (if they exist) if I did not review the wine list. What can I say? The selection was fantastic and the prices were very fair. In fact, I spotted a number of bottles that had a 50% mark-up, at most -- a great rate for a restaurant of this caliber, given that many high-end places will inflate the prices by up to 300%.

The wine I picked for dinner was a Crozes-Hermitage Paul Jaboulet Aine "Thalabert" 2003. The Thalabert is a 100% Syrah wine. Deep purple in color showing its youth, yet it had the structure of an older wine. Definite fruit on the nose with a distinct earthiness underneath. The palate was dark berries, and iron notes were also identifiable and strong. Very drinkable, and great with the steak. I'd rate this at four out of five stars based on the quality to value ratio alone.