Part of the pleasure of being in the Center of the Wine Universe (New York City) is getting my hands on so many weird, cool bottles. I’m like an adult in a fermented grape juice store. Case in point: the 2015 Domaine Léonine Amédée.

It’s (primarily) Syrah from Roussillon. That would be the part of Southern France which cozies up with the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Pyrenees near the Spanish border. It is a “natural” wine (which I covered in an earlier post about a fizzy pink bottle with a label depicting a dude head-butting another dude). And check the 2015 vintage: the Amédée is so N-E-W. As in bottled and headed to our shores pretty darn quick. Like the much, much more famous Beaujolais Nouveau. It even goes through a similar winemaking process (carbonic maceration…sounds serious, eh?) that adds a lot of fruity fresh fun to the mix.

2015 Domaine Léonine Amédée

But hold it right there. If your only experience with a nouveau-style wine comes from Beaujolais, here’s a unique bottle to hang your stylistic hat on. Though very easy-going (especially at only 11% alcohol), the Amédée has got some funk to it. A nice earthy, intriguing component adding some real sizzle. The wine’s a bit of a shape-shifter, too, which you’ll find as you work your way through each glass/the bottle. (Another hat-tip to Discovery Wines in the East Village for the recommendation. #discowines)

I also really dig the guitar pick motif on the vintage. And represented as the “o” in the domaine name.

BTW, I moved out of my first apartment sublet in New York. Right now experiencing the ultimate NYC housing dream: living alone. A fleeting week in a quiet, cozy airbnb just a few blocks away from this mounted bear. (I also had a deer head in my room, FYI.)

Goodbye East Village apartment with bear taxidermy mounted to the living room brick wall.

A photo posted by Jameson Fink (@jamesonfink) on Jan 16, 2016 at 1:27pm PST

Tags: amedee wine, Domaine Léonine, natural wine roussillon