Southern Rhône - Day 3
Having left Tain L'Hermitage feeling a perceptible chill it was pleasing to head South into sunshine and pitch up at Le Vieux Donjon in Châteauneuf-du-Pape in positively Mediterranean warmth. The Northern and Southern Rhône vineyards may only be an hour's drive apart but they distinctly different in terms of climate, topography, geology and, of course, wine. Claire Michel told us that they started picking their white grapes in August this year and didn't finish harvesting the red varieties until 10th October. As in the north the preceding 2014 vintage was hard work and they had to be selective with their fruit to achieve the quality to which they aspire. An approximative vat blend of the red 2014 Châteauneuf' has quite a cherry robe, garrigue berry scents and a succulent palate of ripe, red fruit with supple tannins. The finished wine will lean more towards pleasure than profoundness but one cannot produce 'grand vin' every year and the Michel family have a great track record of getting the best out of every vintage.
Down the road at Domaine du Père Caboche ebullient patron Jean-Pierre Boisson told us that the 2015 harvest was the best of his long career. 'I can't recall grapes of this quality since 1978 but this year the volumes were better - we had to pause picking because the vats were all full!'. Cask samples of his 2015 Côtes du Rhône and Châteauneuf' certainly bore this out but the 2014 wines were also gratifying with lots of juicy red Grenache fruit over a back-ground of fine-grained tannins.
Over in his HQ in Tavel seasoned vigneron Richard Maby was upbeat talking us through bottle samples of his 2014 vintage which was a particularly good year for rosé which represents a major proportion of his output. His exemplary Tavel has a deep terracotta robe and bags of red berry fruit underscored by a fresh acidity. His red Lirac is going to be a crowd-pleaser - it has at its core sweet cassis flavours and a lovely, savoury finish. Our inaugural shipment is being prepared as I write.
Gigondas and Vacqueyras were similarly blessed by optimum growing conditions in 2015. Jean-Pierre Meffre (my senior by a year or two) cannot recall a better vintage and he was around in 1990 which raised the bar in the Rhône back in the day. His near neighbour Yves Chéron, at Domaine du Grand Montmirail was equally enthusiastic '2015 is terrific throughout France - it's going to be a buyers vintage.' It's a great pleasure to witness old friends who've battled through turbulent times enjoying the fruits of an outstanding vintage. To summarise 2014 will give pleasurable, hedonistic even, wines that will be rewarding from release but 2015 will furnish wines to lay down and enjoy for many years to come.
Jason Yapp with Yves Chéron - Domaine du Grand Montmirail
Northern Rhône - Day 2
An audience with Jean-Louis Chave at his HQ in Mauves is always a pleasure and he has a gift for succinctly describing the different facets of any given vintage. This is a fascinating insight into his fastidious attention to detail and profound understanding of the vine-holdings over which he presides. 2014 was a 'vintage of the hills' where the free-draining granitic slopes yielded quality fruit that will form the core of his Saint-Joseph and Hermitage. 2015 'could be the opposite' whereby clay soils on flatter parcels retained much needed moisture during a hot summer. Fortunately he has a broad palette of fruit from which to fashion his final 'assemblages' and, as ever, chez Chave if it doesn't fit the context of the vintage, it doesn't go in the final blend.
As we had established the previous day in Condrieu, 2014 looks to be a highly-promising vintage for Northern Rhône whites and barrel samples of red Saint-Joseph and Hermitage had all the components of classic wines, perhaps not blockbusters, but serious Syrah of great finesse. We look forward to revisiting both vintages in the future and seeing how they evolve.
Max & Antoine Graillot
Our second appointment of the day was with our good friends the Graillot brothers Antoine and Maxime, but we were honoured that their Dad, Alain, who is nominally retired (but as busy as ever) joined us too. Alain has always maintained that he wants to make wines 'that people enjoy drinking' and the 2014s from this unimpeachable family-run estate will be no exception. They are fruit-forward and will be approachable from the get go - Alain avers that we should enjoy them while waiting for slow-burning vintages to mature.
Tasting chez Graillot
An exciting development here is that the family have acquired 3 parcels of vines in Beaujolais that they have called 'Domaine Fa' and that will shortly be released in the inaugural 2014 vintage. An early sampling had all of the signature 'Graillot' freshness and fruit and we look forward to getting an allocation.
Our third meeting was with 3 generations of the Clape family in Cornas who talked us through extensive cask samples of the 2014 vintage. It is going to yield readily approachable quite hedonistic wines which, unusually for them, won't require extensive cellaring. Olivier Clape opined that the 2015 vintage is likely to be built for the long haul so 2014 will be a good a drinking vintage to have 'on the go' in the interim.
As we'd discovered at Le Chaudron restaurant they are now, once again, bottling a modicum of white Saint-Péray and the 2014 vintage looks to have got them off to a great start with lots of ripe orchard fruit and a lovely, creamy texture.
Jason & Ron
Our final meeting of the day was completely unintended, but we bumped into legendary Australian wine-maker Ron Laughton and his wife Elva in the street in Tain L'Hermitage. Fortunately they had time to join us for a quick catch up and a glass of fizz in new wine bar Le Bateau Ivre before we headed off to supper at Vincent Dollat's 'Le Mangevins' restaurant which is worthy of a special award for its wine list and another for its sublime Franco-Japanese cuisine. It's tough work out here but it must be done!
Sashimi at Le Mangevins
Northern Rhône - Day 1:
Having left home at an unearthly hour to catch a 7am flight to Lyon we touched down in chilly mists. after an hour's drive south to Ampuis the clouds parted and we were treated to a vista of vines in glorious sunshine. On the steep La Viallière vineyard to the North of Côte-Rôtie we found Joël Champet hard at work at the controls of a digger clearing the last viable 100 square metre plot below his house to accommodate a few more precious rows of Syrah vines.
Joël was hugely upbeat about the potential of the recent 2015 harvest (the best he can remember) and keen to show us his latest 2014 bottling. By contrast the 2014 vintage was 'hard work all the way' but that toil was worth it as the finished wine is bien classique with pure black fruit scents and flavours and fine tannins offset by a mineral streak. It will drink well on its youthful fruit but should cellar well for at least 10 years.
Down the road in Condrieu, Paul Ansellem, gave us a warm welcome at Domaine Georges Vernay. Here the 2014 vintage brought quality but also some much needed volume after terribly 'short' vintages in 2012 and 2013. The first bottlings of the 'Pied de Samson' vin de pays Viognier and 'Les Terraces de l'Empire' Condrieu are already drinking delightfully with bags of ripe white peach fruit, taffeta texture and great finesse. There is every reason to anticipate that the senior bottlings of 'Chaillées d'Enfer' and 'Coteau de Vernon' will also be benchmark examples of what this celebrated estate can produce. Not to be overlooked are Christine Vernay's terrific red wines. A delightful vin de pays Syrah 'De Mirbaudie' 2014 had lots of crunchy red fruit, a fresh acidity, supple tannins and the signature Vernay elegance whilst the 2013 bottlings of Saint-Joseph and Côte-Rôtie showed even more complexity and promise. The only disappointment here was that yields were low again in 2015 so lovers of premium Viognier should stock up on the relatively plentiful 2014s while they can. Don't say we didn't warn you!
Our final tasting of the day was back in Côte-Rôtie with our old friend Patrick Jasmin. We loved his youthful 2014 vin de pays Syrah called 'La Chevalière' which had lovely clean redcurrant fruit flavours but failed to persuade Patrick to part with a few cases as it has all been snapped up by canny locals. He has promised us an allocation next year though so watch this space. Barrel samplings of his 2014 Côte-Rôtie revealed all the components of a well-structured Jasmin assemblage - a lovely purple robe, dark cherry and berry scents, a wealth of black fruit, pitchy tannins and a fresh acidity. It won't be a blockbuster but more of a Burgundian-style, mid-weight wine for gratifying drinking with between 5 and 15 years of bottle age. After checking in to our favourite ( and inexpensive) hôtel, Les Deux Coteaux, we repaired to 'Le Chaudron' restaurant which is renowned for its fantastic list of Rhône wines. Happily we then bumped into our old friend and mentor Rhône expert John Livingstone-Learmonth who introduced us to his French associate Yohan Castaing. Over a very jolly dinner we sampled the Clapes' excellent new Saint-Péray 2014 (courtesy of patron Marc Grillon), the 2013 Crozes-Hermitage blanc Domaine Alain Graillot and a delicious red 2011 Saint-Joseph from Jean-Claude Marsanne which showed Northern Rhône Syrah in a very pure light. Sensibly we then called it a night as we all had busy schedules the following day.
Jonathan at the fountain in Chateauneuf du Pape. We've got one just like that...
By the time we arrived in Châteauneuf-du-Pape on Monday, morning mists were clearing to reveal a vista of vines in golden Autumn sunshine. Our first port of call was at Le Vieux Donjon where a smiling Claire Michel told us she was relieved to have completed the complicated 2014 harvest. Hot on the heels of the Wine Advocate's Rhône guru Jeb Dunnuck, who is a great admirer of this traditional estate, we tasted a vat blend of the short and atypical 2013 harvest which will have a lower Grenache content than usual due to a cool Spring inhibiting fruit development.
Next stop up the road at Domaine du Père Caboche, Emilie Boisson concurred that 2014 and 2013 were two very different vintages but both with their individual charms. With lots to do on our three day mission, we sadly did not have too much time to linger before we were back on the road.
Jean-Pierre and Emilie Boisson - Domaine du Père Caboche
This time we pointed the voiture due north-east, heading for the imposing edifice of the Dentelles Montmirail and the picturesque Domaine Saint Gayan. A friendly welcome from Syrah, the domaine's black labrador, was followed with equally amiable greetings and then tasting from Jean-Pierre Meffre and his son-in-law Christian-Yves.
Jean-Pierre Meffre - Domaine Saint Gayan
The departure from the Meffres also meant our leaving the Southern Rhône as we sped north through the industrial landscape of Les Usines Rhoddannienes towards Tain L'Hermitage and the more hilly North. We had time for a quick hotel freshen-up before venturing out to replenish our dwindling energy levels with a superb dinner at Le Mangevins, where the quality of the cuisine is matched equally with the depth of the wine list which had some absolute gems at "rub your eyes" great value prices.
Team Yapp hit Châteauneuf
Fully sated we repaired to bed ready for day two...
