Another pre-dawn awakening as we shuttled up a fog-bound Autoroute de Soleil to make our first appointment in Côte Rôtie at 10.00am. We found gregarious patron Joel Champet talking up the merits of the 2010 vintage as well as the prospects of ‘Les Bleues’ in this weekend’s Rugby World Cup Final: "they have nothing to lose". Down the road in Ampuis, Patrick Jasmin was equally upbeat and an extensive barrel tasting of his 2010 vintage fully justified his bonhomie. We then enjoyed a terrific lunch at his local bistro ‘La Serine’ which boasts a cracking wine list, perhaps unsurprisingly, as it is jointly owned by local winemaking luminaries Villard, Cuilleron, Gaillard and Villa. With a well-executed menu of regional cuisine this is a highly-recommended pit stop for those travelling in the area.
After a morning sampling young Syrah it was somewhat of a relief to head South to Condrieu where tastings at Château Grillet, Francois Merlin and Domaine Georges Vernay reinforced our view that 2010 is a stonking white wine vintage in the Northern Rhône.
Joel Champet
(This blog is re-published from the website of our friends Claud The Butler)
There is a little corner of Wiltshire that will be forever France...
Claud is beside himself with excitement at the prospect of a whole day spent in the Yapp Brother’s yard in Mere alongside his buddy, the Yapp blue Citroen H delivery van and his close cousin, the very distinguished Citroen ‘Traction Avant’. And we’re feeling the excitement too as we set up in the courtyard of this award-winning and deliciously ‘under-the-radar’ wine merchants and prepare for a day serving coffee and cake to discerning oenophiles. The eagerly awaited Yapp Brothers ‘Bin End Wines’ Sale is underway, early risers make their way across the courtyard to the ‘tasting’ room, choices are made. No wonder coffee seemed like a good idea.
Jason Yapp is busy co-ordinating a small, dedicated band of staff, but finds time to drop by to shoot the breeze and fill us in on a little of the history of the place. The fountain full of aquamarine water to the right of Claud is a replica of the original at Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Rhône, and the grotto to his left is a hang-over from brewery days. Beer was kept cool in the grotto – until the family of brewers fell under the influence of the Temperance movement and turned their attentions to skimmed milk production. Jason’s father, Yapp père, has stopped by for coffee too, and sits in the morning sunshine in Claud’s café as if it were a regular feature of his Saturday mornings. Jason shows us black and white photo boards of the dilapidated state of the buildings when his father first bought them, way back in the late sixties. Today they nestle side-by-side, resplendent in the colours of Southern France, all blues, turquoises and yellows. Hard to imagine we’re in Wiltshire on the warmest day of the year so far.
Today ‘Team Claud’ is joined by guest member, George, taking time out from his high-flying London legal career to don an apron and help his mum with her new venture. It’s a family affair. The smell of coffee beans fills the air and visitors to Claud delicately negotiate their way through a menu of lattes, espressos, cappuccinos and flat whites. Together with side orders of home-made cake, and, for that true taste of ‘la belle france’, little madeleines fresh from our Willow Vale oven. Tom ‘Yapp’ takes a break to talk cycling with Lee. Turns out they had both climbed Mont Ventoux in the ferocious heat of Le Tour d’Etape, an amateur stage of the Tour de France, two years back.
As the sun sets over the fountain the last of the bin-enders stagger out of the Yapp Brother’s cellars clutching boxes of fine wines and head for home. We send out a last-minute plate of brownies to staff and are delighted when Tom returns the compliment with an elegant glass of deep red dessert wine that verges on ambrosial. ‘It goes with chocolate,’ he explains. Oh yes it does…
I decide that French wine, sunshine, good company, coffee and cake make for a very fine day out indeed. A votre santé!
It’s our final day in the Rhône valley and we are beginning to flag a little as we wend our way out of Orange once again at 8.30am. We’ve long since given up trying to convince friends and family that tasting wine is an arduous task, but you can have too much of a good thing. We are now well into three figures for wines tasted and considered this week for our Rhône 2009 vintage report, so we are both looking forward to getting back home. Yet it’s hard to feel sorry for ourselves as we roll up at Domaine Saint Gayan in 20 degree sunshine. Its 9am and Mont Ventoux towers above us in a blue sky, beautiful but brutal, and Jean-Pierre Meffre takes us through his gamme covering Sablet, Rasteau, Gigondas and Châteauneuf-du-Pape (where he owns less than a hectare that abuts the vineyards of Beaucastel). We taste a succession of vintages and its clear that the 2009's will have a freshness and elegance by comparison with their beefier 2007 siblings.
Heading north (on the home stretch now) we arrive at Domaine Biguet just outside Saint Péray, west of Valence. We’re an hour late for our tasting but Jean-Louis Thiers remains relaxed and promptly shows us in to his neat tasting room. Saint Péray is commonly recognised for its sparkling wines that historically out-priced Champagne, but the still version (also made from 100% Marsanne) deserves to be better known, with aromas of orchard fruit and a ripe, rich palate.
Our final tasting en route to Lyon airport is fittingly at Domaine Georges Vernay in Condrieu. Here we taste the range of 2009 Viogniers for which the estate is justifiably world-renowned, as well as red Côtes du Rhône (interestingly from vines within the AOC limits of Condrieu) and a sleek St Joseph from 35 year old vines. Paul Amsellem (Christine Vernay’s husband) is gamely hosting a large party of Norwegians, so winemaker Christine conducts our tasting and the conversation flows from yields and lieu-dits to the ‘dematerialisation’ of the music industry.
Alas, we have to flee as our return flight beckons, but it’s been one hell of a week!
Jason & Tom.
Back in March we finally fulfilled a long-held ambition, to order a portion of Quenelle de Brochet au Salpicon de Homard, at Condrieu’s legendary Beau Rivage restaurant, right beside the Rhône in the middle of the town. This is not a venture for the faint-hearted (at 38 euros as a starter) especially if it is accompanied by a decent bottle of Condrieu, which it was - François Merlin’s fragrant, complex and lightly-oaked ‘Les Terroirs’ 2007 (60 euros). Contrary to common conjecture not all of our buying trips involve such profligacy but we had a rendez vous scheduled chez Merlin the following morning and pike quenelles are deemed to be the perfect food accompaniment to Condrieu, so it seemed churlish to deny our destiny. Happily, this did prove to be a divine food and wine combination and we were very kindly disposed towards François before we had even met him.
Our tasting the following morning at François’ modest cellar in the hills above Condrieu was something of a formality in qualitative terms but we were also impressed by his infectious enthusiasm and obvious passion for his métier. François is a first generation wine-maker who paid his dues with stages at Rostaing and Vernay while scraping together the funds to buy several tiny parcels of vines (now totalling 2.2 hectares) which explains the name of his principal bottling – ‘Les Terroirs’. We placed our inaugural order on the spot and judging by initial feedback you have been as enthusiastic about François’ wine as we have.
In April we found ourselves back at Le Beau Rivage (it’s a hard life) in the company of Christine Vernay, her husband Paul Amsellem and the Weekend Telegraph’s tireless wine-hound Jonathan Ray. Christine is Condrieu royalty being head wine-maker and patrone of the appellation’s most celebrated estate but we were unable to sample her wine over lunch as the Beau Rivage had already sold out of its generous allocation.
Fortunately we had been treated to a comprehensive tasting of the entire Vernay canon before lunch including the great value, dry and delicate ‘Pied de Samson’ Vin de Pays Viognier, the mid-weight, and fruit accentuated ‘Terrasses de l’Empire’, the rich, unctuous ‘Chaillées d’Enfer’ and the sublime, mutli-faceted, flagship ‘Coteau de Vernon’, from Condrieu’s prime vineyard in the centre of the appellation. Today Christine has become increasingly recognised as a red wine producer and now bottles a fine, brambly un-oaked Syrah Vin de Pays, as well as full and fruity Saint Joseph and two cuvées of elegant and age-worthy Côte Rôtie. Thankfully on that occasion Christine and Paul picked up the bill but we did repay the gesture later in May when they joined us for lunch in London at Le Gavroche, where we enjoyed the Coteau de Vernon 2007 with a Petit Gratin de Crevettes et Pleurottes. Perhaps we could defray some of our expenses by moonlighting as inspectors for the Guide Michelin!
On Day 2 of our Rhône trip, we schlepped north to Côte-Rôtie for a protracted barrel tasting with our old chum Patrick Jasmin. Harvesting here was a tough job in 2008 and Patrick had to pick his grapes in 3 different stages to obtain optimum ripeness. An early sampling of Patrick’s 2008 revealed a lightish, elegant wine that I think should drink well when young. The 2007 is denser and firmer but the signature Jasmin ‘burgundian’ softness is clearly evident. This is a classic rather than blockbuster vintage and we look forward to tasting the final vintage.
A short hop down river to Condrieu took us to the hallowed premises of Domaine Georges Vernay where Georges’ daughter and head winemaker Christine and her husband Paul Amselem were waiting to greet us. Tasting Vernay is always a pleasure as this is the spiritual home of the Viognier grape - which Georges (who is an active octogenarian) championed, almost single-handedly, during the lean post-war years.
Despite depleted volumes, Christine is pleased with the results of the 2008 vintage which was hard work in both the vineyard and cellar. All of the white wines here are made from pure Viognier and all exhibit wonderful, clean, clear, almost tropical fruit and understated elegance and finesse. The star of the show is the flagship ‘Coteau de Vernon’ from Condrieu’s most prestigious vineyard, which has an amazing concentration and complexity and a long ageing potential. These days Christine is also producing some fine red wines including a fragrant and juicy Vin de Pays Syrah and some superb Côte Rôtie.
After tasting we adjourned to Condrieu’s famous Beau Rivage restaurant for a relaxed and convivial lunch overlooking the mighty river Rhône. Our meal was accompanied by a fine Condrieu from Robert Jurie and a mid-weight Côte Rôtie 2004 from Philippe Faury that was a perfect match for my Navarin de Chevreuil. I praised Christine’s modesty in not selecting her own wines but she pointed out that it hadn’t been an option as they had sold out of the entire Vernay range. We may be mid-recession but it seems that there is enduring demand for exemplary wines.
After bidding farewell to Christine and Paul we headed down to Tain l’Hermitage to visit the HQ of another Rhône visionary - Michel Chapoutier. Here the genial young Export Manager ‘Florent’ tutoured us through an extensive range of Chapoutier wines from a humble Tricastin to mighty single-vineyard Hermitages. Obviously this is a rather polarised portfolio varying from wines with a million bottle production to real rarities that are sold on a strict allocation basis. If there is a common thread here it is that all the Chapoutier wines have a true sense of terroir and a polished perfectionism which gives them their enormous commercial appeal.
That evening we dined well at ‘Le Mangevins’ a lively new Bistrot à Vins which is a cork’s throw from the Chapoutier premises. The food here is simple and well-executed with some interesting Asian twists courtesy of the patron’s Japanese wife, who presides in the kitchen. The wine list is a delight and very reasonably priced – we enjoyed a 2007 Condrieu from Domaine Vallet and a fine, earthy 2004 Cornas from Alain Voge before retiring to our modest but well-run billet – the Hôtel Les Deux Coteaux, right beside the Rhône in the centre of town.
