"While most of France's major wine regions struggled in 2012, the Rhône stands apart. Vintners are positive after a growing season and harvest marked by dry, sunny weather and well-timed rains."
James Molesworth - The Wine Spectator
Having read extensive reports about the success of the 2012 vintage in the Rhône Valley over recent months it was a great pleasure to get out there at the tail end of October and taste in person, in situ from barrel and bottle. Although I was optimistic about the quality of the harvest and the wine-making talents of the growers who supply us there really is no substitute for tasting wines sur place with the people who make them. Overall I was pleasantly surprised, even against a contextual background of positive reports. 2012 is not a blockbuster vintage in the North or the South. In the main it has delivered wines of pure fruit, great balance, elegance and charm. I think the 2012 Rhône wines will drink well from release and should have the capacity for good medium-term aging up to 10-15+ years.
I hope the attached video filmed at the gateway to the Rhône Valley in Condrieu and Côte-Rôtie will give further insight into my initial impressions.
Saluté
PS. You can view Part 1 of my report (Hermitage, Jean-Louis Chave and Alain Graillot) and see our en primeur offer on our Rhône 2012 vintage report page.
Wednesday 23rd October
Posted by Jason Yapp & Andrew Stanning
Having schlepped south to Châteauneuf-du-Pape we had a reviving beer and a review of our tasting notes and photographs at the Mule de Pape bar then we repaired to La Mère Germaine restaurant, an old favourite of culinary doyenne Elizabeth David, for a restorative supper and a bottle of C de P's finest.
With the Michel family at their celebrated Le Vieux Donjon cellars.
Our penultimate appointment was with the Michel family at their celebrated Le Vieux Donjon cellars. Here we tasted their white 2012 from the bottle and red 2012 from the vat - less fun than it sounds at 9am, but the wines are knockout. The white has subtle scents of pears, wild flowers and honey and a lovely, long, savoury, mid-weight palate. The red, which will be blended in December and bottled in the Spring, is all Provençal herbs and garrigue berries over a background of ripe tannins. It will be a big, bold complex bottling that should keep well for over a decade; bring on the côte de bœuf! After the obligatory photo shoot in front of the old château ruins we hit the road south for Domaine de Trévallon rueing not having added it as a ‘favourite’ on the sat nav on our last visit.
Having received precise directions from a providentially well-informed local we arrived at Domaine de Trévallon spot on time for our final appointment. The Dürrbach family proudly showed us round their spanking new cellars and winery, work on which was completed just in time to bring in the bountiful 2013 harvest; which was fortunately 2 weeks later than usual. There were no problems with low volumes here - due to the high altitude, sunny southern location and long ripening season.
New cuverie at Domaine de Trévallon
Antoine Dürrbach then patiently talked us through barrel and vat samples of the 2012 vintage. The red has bags of rich, ripe, concentrated red and black fruit, a good clean acidity and a framework of rugged tannins that should see it age well. A classic Trévallon, in the mould of the 2005 perhaps, that will be an unashamed vin de garde maturing gracefully over 10-20 years. Its rarer, white sibling is made from a blend of 5% Greanche Blanc, 5% Chardonnay and 45% each of Marsanne and Roussanne vinified and raised in oak barrels half of which are new. The 2012 is a belter with power and finesse in equal measure - more Burgundian than Rhodanienne - with heaps of orchard fruit on the palate and a really persistent finish. It should drink well from release in December and keep well for at least a decade.
Satisfied that yet another long-serving Yapp supplier was on sterling form we bade our farewells and hot-footed it to the airport not forgetting to add Domaine de Trévallon to our list of favourites in more ways than one. As I type this on a plane crossing the Massif Central we are already looking forward to our next visit.
Hats off to snapper Stanning!
(We will shortly release more information on the Rhône 2012 vintage and our En Primeur offer on our Rhône 2012 page here).
Tuesday 22nd October 2013
After a splendid supper at Le Mangevins, one of the best but smallest restaurants in the Rhône valley with a minimalist Franco-Japenese menu and an extensive and modestly priced carte des vins (so worth booking well in advance) we turned in early with the prospect of a busy day ahead.
At his ever expanding HQ in the villages of Mauves we found Jean-Louis Chave busier than ever juggling childcare, phone calls and the vinification of the 2013 harvest - the quality of which should be excellent. Volumes, however, are low particularly for the white wines so, as ever, demand is likely to outstrip supply.
Boules in Tain L'Hermitage
A barrel tasting of the 2012 vintage revealed wines of immediate charm with a wealth of ripe fruit scents and flavours. Jean-Louis avers that this elegant, fruit-forward vintage should drink well from bottling and continue to please. A warm, sunny end to the ripening season has imbued the wines with a soft, supple charm and a core of juicy fruit. Jean-Louis likened it to the the 2000 vintage as an unashamed crowd-pleaser that will drink well at every stage of its evolution. It was great to see Jean-Louis' father, Gerard, looking fit and well on the eve of a trip to Canada. We left père and fils caring for the next generation of wines and children confident that both are in very safe hands.
Maxime, Alain and Antoine Graillot
Our next stop was at Domaine Alain Graillot in Crozes Hermitage. Here we were greeted by Alain himself as well as his two sons Antoine and Max and Max's business partner Thomas Schmittel. Here too volumes were severely depleted in 2013, especially for the white wines which were hit by a hail storm on July 9th. Barrel samples of the more prolific 2012 vintage showed lots of sleek, black fruit with lovely licks of pepper and liquorice and a fresh acidity. It will be a Crozes-Hermitage of ready charm - accessible from the off but with good ageing potential. There is a strong possibility Alain will make a bottling of his 'cuvée du patron' - La Guiraude of which we hope to secure an allocation.
Our final call of the day was to see Pierre and Olivier Clape in Cornas. There we enjoyed the newly bottled 2012 vintage of their Côtes du Rhône and 'Vin des Amis' both of which showed beautifully on fat, young fruit and ripe tannins. These two supple youthful Syrahs should provide plenty of rewarding drinking while we wait for the senior wines to mature. The constituent parts of the 'Cuvée Renaissance' have all the raw materials to make great Cornas - lots of dark fruit, a solid framework of tannin and fine acidity - we can't wait to sample the finished wine. If the principal bottling of Clape Cornas 2012 is not a blockbuster it will be close to it - a magnificent wine with an amazing concentration of rich, dark, hedgerow fruit and complex granitic undertones.
Now we head south to Châteauneuf' and beyond!
Lunchtime in Tain!
(We will shortly release more information on the Rhône 2012 vintage and our En Primeur offer on our Rhône 2012 page here).
