Eating well in France? A forgone conclusion one might think but that country’s culinary reputation has slid a lot in recent years. What with the tired, starched formality of Le Grand Palais Michelin-stared restaurants to local bistros serving frozen frites and bottled salad dressings, French dining isn’t always what it used to be.

But on a recent wine tour of the Rhône Valley I found myself eating exceptionally well at unpretentious boits all the way from Avignon to Lyon, and the best of the many exceptional meals I experienced was at Le Quai in Tain L’Hermitage. It is right on the Rhone river and overlooks a picturesque 19th century pedestrian suspension bridge. The view from the terrace in summer must be even more transporting than it was from inside on a chilly day in October.

But putting the location aside, the plat that really wowed me was a piece of monk fish wrapped in bacon and served over rice with a butter sauce that included baby mussels, shrimp and cherry tomatoes. It was a lot lighter than it sounds yet at the same time rich and deeply satisfying. And exactly the same compliments can, and were, paid to the wine that accomplished it.

It was a modest Côtes du Rhône Blanc, Belleruche 2008 ($15, the US retail price) from Tain’s own M. Chapoutier, and the fish and the wine played off each other, sip after delicious mouthful, mouthful after delicious sip, in a dance of pure gastronomic harmony.

As the red’s of the Rhône, from Côté Rôtie in the north to Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the south, have risen to fame and fortune over the last decade the whites have largely got lost in all the excitement, a situation not helped by the fact that they comprise only 5% of the region’s production.

But the Belleruche shows just how super, and what super value, they can be. It’s untouched by oak so it retains a delightful, lively freshness but at the same time manages a surprisingly full-bodied richness thanks to the intensity of the lush ripe-fruit flavors.

And that’s how it transformed the creamy monkfish from the merely delicious to the sublime.