Posts with the label "cote rotie"


Vintage Report: Rhône 2021 En Primeur

Vintage Report: Rhône 2021 En Primeur

Wednesday 23rd November 2022
by Mark Dearing

We have always adored the Rhône Valley in all its luminous, lavish, multi-faceted splendour. It is, though, an uncomfortable truth that the Rhône has fallen out of favour to the sorts of “precise”, “vivid”, “mineral-driven” wines that are easy to appreciate but hard to access.

By contrast, the immense Rhône Valley sits as a model of celebration and simplicity. There is freedom in a largely benevolent climate; a wide array of grape varieties, microclimates and soils; and the desire to articulate things as they are. Prices remain largely very fair for wines that – in the south especially – have remarkably wide drinking windows. Embroidered with silken fruits, berries and flowers, the wines are a joy to drink in the first few years, and will often hold for several decades. One does not come to Châteauneuf-du-Pape to die on the altar of acidity. We who love the tremor of the south are happy to luxuriate in the amplitude and pantheon of the Mediterranean, and feel compelled to invite others to bathe in its glow. To have it any other way would be to lose the essence of the wine world’s most famous and well-known appellation: the very first of its kind. 

Vintage Report: Rhône 2018

Vintage Report: Rhône 2018

Monday 7th October 2019
by Giles Burke-Gaffney

Generalising about the 2018 Rhône vintage is difficult. Where it was a small crop it was tiny and where it wasn’t it was big!

Equally paradoxical is the style of the wines – some of which are really attractive and seductive now, others are blockbusters that will require great patience.  Nor do these differences divide neatly into the Northern or Southern Rhône.   What is clear, though, is the pattern of the season: 2018 started with an intolerably prolonged wet period in Spring that was ended by a long bout of hot, dry weather that began at the end of June; there was an extremely hot August and finally a harvest period that was very warm throughout. One grower I spoke to described 2018 as “tropical.”  Low yields or high, 2018 produced rich, ripe grapes that were in tip top health. Alcohols and tannic structures were relatively high and acids low. There are plenty of delicious wines to seek out, but whether they are for keeping or drinking before 2017s, 2016s and 2015s varies from Domaine to Domaine – I have given a general idea below and will go into even more detail in our Rhône offer that will be launched on the 20th November. 

Vintage Report: Rhône 2013,

Vintage Report: Rhône 2013, "a silver lining" (and a quick word on 2012s)

Monday 17th November 2014
by Giles Burke-Gaffney

Walking through some Grenache vines in Châteauneuf –du-Pape at the end of September 2013 was glorious.  It was a bright, sunny and rather balmy afternoon, unusually so at that time of year even for the Southern Rhône.  

As I looked at the vines, sparsely dotted with the odd bunch, most of them grapillons (the second flush of grapes that are left on the vine after vintage because they never ripen and are not used to make wine). I imagined how glorious the crop would have looked and how gratifying harvest must have been.  So it was to my great surprise later that evening to learn that picking had not even started yet.  Nearly a year on, I travelled out( this week) to taste the results. 

Uneven weather before and during the 2013 flowering period resulted in the dropping of embryonic bunches, followed by aborted flowering of those that remained. Grenache was the most severely affected variety in the South and given that this makes up 70% of the typical Châteauneuf blend, was something of a catastrophe for growers.  A drop of 30 to 50% compared to a usual harvest was reported across the region, for many producers it was the smallest crop they had ever seen.  In the North, depending on the vineyard and individual terroir, Syrah was worse affected than it was further south and there were also tiny yields for Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne. Furthermore a very uneven wet and cold summer meant it was a late vintage, the latest in thirty years of wine producing for one particular Hermitage vigneron. 
Rhone 2012 and 2011: updates

Rhone 2012 and 2011: updates

Monday 18th March 2013
by Giles Burke-Gaffney

Last week Rhone growers gathered together to show their 2011s, and the odd 2012 under the table, in Avignon at the Palais des Papes, Tain Hermitage, Mauves and Ampuis.  

Aswell as the bad and the ugly there was significant representation from the great and the good.  In a strong show of viticultural "fraternite" growers were out in force, it was an impressive display. 

I found some very good Rasteau, Lirac, Vacqueyras and Gigondas wines. It is clear that when carefully chosen these areas can offer wines of great character and exceptional value, though there is still too much inconsistency, perhaps this may have been a little exaggerated in a year like 2011 where less capable growers stuck out like saw thumbs. The vintage is also inconsistent in Chateauneuf and one that really separates the wheat from the chaff.  Some wines can be just a little lacking and overly alcoholic whilst others were delightfully delicious already - well-balanced, fragrant and easy on the brain with enough structure and character to make them interesting, whilst not being too demanding.  Thank goodness because 2009s and 2010s are intense and don't look like budging anywhere soon.  The highlights of those I tasted last week were Pegau, Barroche, St Prefert and Vieux Telegraphe.  It is a vintage that favours the North, certainly. However from the odd 2012 i tasted north and south of Montelimar, its seems that the situation is reversed a little.  2012 looks to be an excellent year in the Southern Rhone. It is certainly something to keep a close eye on.
Rhone 2010 - Greater than 2009?

Rhone 2010 - Greater than 2009?

Thursday 14th July 2011
by Giles Burke-Gaffney

I look forward to the Rhone buying trip with particular relish. The place is beautiful, the weather a welcome change from grey London and the diverse array of wines fantastic.

 Rhone can never be accused of being boring, from the divergent blends of Chateauneuf, the varying styles of the Northern Syrahs, not to mention Condrieu, Marsannes and Roussannes. What's more I know that when I get back home, there will be more than a few things on my wine shopping list that I will actually be able to afford.

This July's aim was to re-taste 2009s and take an extensive look at 2010s. The schedule in front of me was bursting at the seams, 22 growers in 4 days including Clos des Papes,Pegau, Vieux Telegraphe, Chave, Domaine du Coulet, Alain Graillot, Rostaing, Clusel Roch and Stephane Ogier to name a few. I am very much becoming a victim of the Rhone's success, it seems that every year we add a new grower to the portfolio. The trip left me quite exhausted, albeit in a thoroughly satisifed way.