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.
Fortified by a superb dinner at Guy Julien’s truffle-orientated restaurant ‘Le Beaugravière’ in Montdragon (which has a legendary Rhône wine list) we arrived in Châteauneuf-du-Pape on Wednesday morning greeted by a blue sky and southern sunshine.
At Le Vieux Donjon Marie-José Michel and her daughter Claire gave us a warm welcome and the happy news that the Rhône 2009 vintage had surpassed their expectations. We then sampled a bottle of their excellent white Châteauneuf’ 2009. Made from equal volumes of Clairette and Roussanne this mid-weight, un-oaked offering has subtle citrus and ‘fleurs blanches’ scents and a bright, palate of white orchard fruit underscored by a clean acidity. It is drinking wonderfully well right now and should continue to do so for a further 3 years. Claire then produced a cask sample of the red Le Vieux Donjon 2009 which exhibited a powerful bouquet of red fruit and a complex palate infused with garrigue berry and Provençal herb notes. We then compared with a bottle of the blockbuster 2007 vintage (which still has plenty of youthful vigour) and although the 2009 is a shade lighter and less concentrated (dare we say more feminine?) it is clearly a superb and age-worthy wine.
Down the road at Domaine du Père Caboche another young vigneronne, Emile Boisson, was equally upbeat about the 2009 vintage. The Boisson family is renowned for producing forward-drinking, fruit accentuated wines for immediate gratification. Their white Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2009 is a classic with a fresh, sapid palate and attractive white peach aromas. It is cleaner and zestier than most of its peers and you could happily drink it as an aperitif. The principal cuvée of red Châteauneuf’, called simply ‘Domaine du Père Caboche’, has a bright bouquet of crushed red berries and a supple, silky palate of warming red fruit flavours and ripe, sweet tannins. This is a wine for shameless hedonistic consumption while waiting for grander, more contemplative wines to mature. The Boissons’ flagship wine called ‘Elisabeth Chambellan’, from 100 year-old vines on ‘La Crau’ plateau, is deeper, darker, richer and more complex than the regular bottling but it retains the domaine’s signature of seductive, come-hither fruit. It will age well for a decade – if you’ve got the patience to wait that long.
Having completed our tastings in Châteauneuf’ we then headed south to Les Baux to sample the wines of Domaine de Trévallon. Strictly speaking this is in Provence and not the Rhône valley but it’s certainly a wine that appeals to Rhône enthusiasts so we were keen to pay a visit. After successfully negotiating the backwaters of Les Alpilles we were greeted by Antoine Dürrbach and his younger sister Ostiane who are both now firmly involved in the family business. We kicked-off with a tasting of the rare and idiosyncratic white Domaine de Trévallon 2009. Made from a unique blend of Marsanne (45%), Roussanne (45%), Chardonnay (7%) and Grenache Blanc (3%) raised in oak barrels (half of which are new) this is rich, powerful, gastronomic wine that probably requires a bit of bottle-age and a food accompaniment to be seen at its best. We then sampled the 2009 red Syrah from barrel which had an impressive purple colour and a core of concentrated sweet, black fruit over fine-grained tannins. We then tasted the Cabernet Sauvignon which had a lovely cassis bouquet, very bright fruit and a fresh acidity. The obvious thing to next was to sample a blend of the two together which produced a really harmonious result – a great balance of berry aromas, ripe fruit, sweet tannin and clean acidity. Considering its southern location Domaine de Trévallon is a very vintage sensitive wine and it appears that the 2009 is going to be a classic. As in Châteauneuf-du-Pape some of the raw power of the 2007’s might be missing but there is great balance and purity which will yield a wine of elegance and enormous future gratification.
After another day spent tasting young Rhône wines there is really only one choice of liquid refreshment – a cold demi pression or two in ‘Le Mistral’ bar in Orange.
Jason & Tom.
(Continuing the voyage down the Rhône valley this week, to catch up with vigneron friends and get an insight into the Rhône 2009 vintage).
Domaine Jean-Louis Chave is a key reference point for the entire Rhône valley, and securing an audience with Jean-Louis himself is never easy. Space precludes going into too much detail here, but the red Chave Hermitage 2009 has the potential to be a legendary wine and on the strength of our cask tasting I would be surprised if Jean-Louis did not produce a bottling of his prized Cuvée Cathelin. All of the components that are required for a classic, age-worthy red Hermitage are here – a wealth of dark fruit flavours and well-structured tannins underscored by a fine acidity. The finished wine won’t hit these shores until Spring 2012, but it will be worth the wait. Not to be overlooked is the Chave’s peerless white Hermitage which should also be ‘bien classique’ in this impressive vintage.
Just South of Tain l’Hermitage, at Les Chenes Verts, young Maxime Graillot exudes confidence at the purpose-built winery he shares with his semi-retired father Alain. Their red Crozes Hermitage is juicy and fruity and will provide rewarding drinking from the off. A new negoçiant cuvée of Cornas called ‘Equis’ was hugely impressive with a core of dark Cassis fruit over a foundation of ripe, subtle tannins. We wound up a great day’s tasting with the Graillots’ fresh, youthful white Crozes (20% Marsanne / 80% Roussanne) already bottled under screw cap and selling rapidly.
Tomorrow we head south for Châteauneuf-du-Pape to see if the wines of the Cotes-du-Rhone Meridional can compete with their cousins in the North.
À demain (hotel wi-fi permitting),
Jason & Tom
I am surprised at the chutzpah of some UK merchants trying to 'talk up' the 2008 Rhône as a 'superior' vintage that merits buying en primeur. The cold facts are that the 2007s (many of which are still available) are better across the board and the keenly anticipated 2009s should (on the basis of our early tastings) also be far superior.
If one takes a look at the prognostications of leading pundits they seem to concur with our sentiments:
Jancis Robinson 'Rhône 2008 - The Overview' jancisrobinson.com November 2009
'You must come back and taste the 2009s', was the common refrain when I visited the Rhône Valley last month. I was there to taste the 2008s, which was a strange exercise as, the more I tasted them, the more I realised that most sensible wine buyers will want to stock up on the exceptional 2007s while they wait for the eagerly anticipated 2009s. Overall the general characteristic of the 2008s in both northern and southern Rhône is that they are decidedly muted - especially after the super-concentrated 2007s.'
John Livingstone-Learmonth Decanter Magazine 'Rhône 2008: Buy With Care' April 2010
'The 2008 vintage in the Rhône came as a jolt to many growers...It was a marked departure from the free-wheeling seasons that nature delivered for most of the 2000's. There are no blanket rules for buyers except caveat emptor: try the wine before buying it.'
Robert Parker The Wine Advocate eRobertParker.com
'The 2008 southern Rhône vintage is reminiscent of 1999. While challenging in many cases, the good estates and serious vignerons who performed a heavy triage because of mildew in late summer, have produced good to very good wines. As in every challenging vintage, there are some outstanding efforts. To reiterate, the good news is that 2009 is looking like a potentially superb vintage. Even if you miss out on the 2007 vintage, 2009 may come close to rivaling that stupendous year, but the quality cannot be ascertained until the wines have finished their malolactic fermentation in late spring, 2010.'
I can see very little incentive in laying out cash for buying these wines in advance although many of the top growers have produced wines of great delineation and charm. The 2008s will not have the aging or the investment potential of the 2007s and 2009s - so why fork out for them before they are bottled? Or to put it another way. Why make such song and dance about a journeyman vintage?
Jason Yapp
