Overwined posted:

Cotes de Rousillon tend to be heavy on the Carignan so even if Grenache dominates the blend (and it rarely "dominates" down here) the wines will be markedly different from Southern Rhone wines where it is relatively cool.

For your reference, Cotes de Rousillon is (I think) the southern-most AOC in France, butting right up against the Pyrenees along the Mediterranean. It is really quite hot here so that most of the grapes are bush-trained so that the canopy can shield the fruit and prevent it from getting sunburned. These wines are thick and spicy.

They have never been widely available in the US, but that's been getting better lately what with the rise of Languedoc wines. I like a wine called Walden, which should be available retail for $10-$14. It's a half-negociant wine (he basically buys fruit from only his neighbors because they don't make wine themselves) made by the guy that makes Domaine du Clos de Fees, an important biodynamic producer in the region.

EDIT: If you feel like ponying up a bit more and especially if you like Walden, you should try to find the regular Domaine du Clos de Fees label wines. Cheapest wine he makes retails for somewhere in the high teens, low twenties, so nothing backbreaking. It's good poo poo.