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RHÔNE VALLEY
 This geologically diverse region in France produces some extraordinary
wines. The amazing point is that you can find stellar, rare and costly wines
in this area, but there are many little gems to be had, also. We're amused that many
California winemakers put price tags on their wines which exceed those found on some of
the wines which are viewed as "the standards. "
Wines from the Rhône used to be viewed as price-worthy alternatives to Bordeaux and
Burgundy when those markets spiraled to dizzying levels. This situation has changed
in the past decade as superstar Rhône Valley wines now achieve prices as high as top
Bordeaux and Burgundy.
The main grape varieties here are the Grenache and Syrah for red wines,
Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne for whites.
NORTHERN RHÔNES
I've listed the appellations and the grape varieties allowed for each. They're
listed north to south. While a major player in southern Rhônes, Grenache is not
normally found in the north.
| CÔTE- RÔTIE |
Syrah with a 20% maximum of Viognier being
allowed, though rarely employed. |
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| Chateau GRILLET One of the few curiosities in terms
of appellation, this is the name of the winery as well as the appellation. |
Viognier |
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| SAINT-JOSEPH |
Syrah for the reds with 10% maximum of white grapes
allowed. Marsanne & Roussanne for the whites |
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| SAINT-PERAY |
Marsanne & Roussanne for both white
wine and a Rhône sparkling wine. |
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| CROZES-HERMITAGE |
Syrah for the reds with 15% maximum of white grapes
allowed-rare, though. Marsanne & Roussanne for the whites |
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| HERMITAGE |
Syrah for the reds with 15% maximum of white grapes
allowed-rare, though Marsanne & Roussanne for the whites |
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The Southern Rhône is quite variable, the second largest regional appellation
after Bordeaux. The most broad appellation here is "Côtes du Rhône" and
you'll find it on some wines ranging from very good to remarkably average. There are
some 77 or so little "burgs" which come under the appellation of "Côtes du
Rhône Villages". Of those, some 16 can actually put their village name on the
label. We've recently found good wines of the Costieres-de-Nimes,
Coteaux-du-Tricastin and Côtes-du-Ventoux designations. The most prestigious
southern Rhone appellations are the world-famous Châteauneuf-du-Pape, followed by
Gigondas and then Lirac and Vacqueyras. Tavel is a famous and, usually, expensive
rose wine.
Most of the southern Rhône reds are Grenache-based wines. Quality and character are
variable, depending upon the location of the vineyard, soil type, vintage and vigneron.
There are 13 different varieties allowed in producing wines such as Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Grenache Noir, Syrah and Mourvèdre are the primary varieties, augmented with
Picpoul (which comes in 3 "flavors": noir, blanc or gris), Counoise, Cinsault,
Clairette, Terret Noir, Vaccarese, Roussanne, Bourboulenc and Piccardin. You
might also find a herd of others in the south, including Ca rignan, Grenache Blanc, Ugni
Blanc, Marsanne, Viognier, Camarese, Pascal Blanc, Grenache Gris, Clairette Rose and
something called Calitor.
Winemaking in this region varies from rustic to ultra-modern. While we've seen
cellars here with 60-gallon capacity oak barrels, the percentage of wines with significant
amounts of new oak is rather small. Most winemakers attempt to showcase their fruit
rather than the work of a barrel-builder.
Recent vintages have been reasonably good. There is not a shortage of
good Rhône wines at the present time.
- Some Rhône Selections:
- E. GUIGAL
 We've long
admired the wines of Guigal, first visiting the winery back in the early 1980s. We
stopped in again recently and, despite our poor timing (the harvest was just winding
down), both Marcel Guigal and his son were extremely hospitable.
Guigal owns about
12 hectares of vines and so they operate as "negociants", too, buying fruit,
juice and wine. The remarkable thing is the high level of quality to be found up and
down the line-up. Their basic "Côtes du Rhône" is a terrific red wine
(and we have it as a "lost leader" for just $13.49 a bottle!). The
2006 vintage
puts to shame a good many California Zinfandels at twice the price!
The company has grown considerably over the past decade, or so, thanks to
the high standards of the Guigal family. It's not by accident these
wines have gained a wide audience.
Of course, Côte-Rôtie here is the specialty, Guigal owning several prime parcels.
These are labeled "La Landonne", "La Mouline" and "La
Turque" and fetch amazingly high prices. Some potential
buyers view these as commodities, not as wine. Prices, as a result,
have become astronomical.
We have the 2004s in stock. $299.99 per bottle.
 Now a large producer of Condrieu, Guigal's special bottling is tabbed "La
Doriane" and has been exceptional Viognier. La Doriane is matured in wood, so
it's got the peach-like notes of Viognier, plus the sweet vanillin notes of the new oak
barrels.
Photo: A Zander filet (a type of perch) served on a bed of
vegetable confetti seasoned with curry. This was a sensational plate prepared by
Norbert & Gaby.
Guigal has introduced a new Côte-Rôtie called Château d'Ampuis. We were impressed
by the fruit, spice and sweet oak of the 1995, the inaugural vintage.
The wine continues to be a delight. The 2006 is in stock and it's a
major league, very showy Syrah.
The local importer recently landed some bottle of Guigal's 1997 Côte-Rôtie
and we bought one, curious to see how this has matured. Well, in April
of 2008 the wine is still deep and youthful in color. It's aromas are
young, too and the wine is quite full and vigorous on the palate. I
would not have guessed it to be a ten+ year old wine from such a warm
vintage. I suspect it may cellar nicely for another decade.
Maybe more.
- Currently available: 2006 Côtes du Rhône Rouge Sale
$13.49 (half bottles are $9.99)
1985 Hermitage $129.99
2007 Condrieu "La Doriane" Sale $99.99
2006 Condrieu $49.99 (750ml) $27.99 (375ml)
2004 Single Vineyard
Côte-Rôties...SALE $299.99
DOMAINE SAINT-AMANT
 The
Wallut family was looking for a vacation residence and they found a nice
little place in the Rhône.
They're located way up in the hills, the nearest town being Suzette.
Beaumes de Venise is the appellation for the Côtes-du-Rhône wines
here. The soils are much like those in Gigondas,
Jacques Wallut is an older gentleman who's a wine fancier. He made
some money working in the computer industry and now he's got a nice little
wine cellar and vineyards well off the beaten path in the Southern Rhône Valley. The property had some 50 to 80 year old Grenache vines and
some 30 to 40 year old Syrah. But Wallut planted Viognier, the first
vines being put into the ground in 1992. There's a tiny
bit of Roussanne planted as well.-
The Saint Amant name comes from a large mountain peak that's above their
vineyards. Wallut's first vintage was 1995 and he made some
reds. But it's a particular bottling of a special cuvée that's
predominantly Viognier as well as an unusually serious Côtes du Rhône that are of interest.
Dubbed "Tabardonne," the wine is 95% Viognier. The grapes
are whole cluster pressed and the juice is put into stainless steel tanks
for two or three days so it clarifies just a little bit. Then it is
racked into wood, something like one-quarter to one-third of the oak
barrels being brand new. Allier oak, they think. The wine has
a fantastic aroma of ripe peach fruit and just a touch of vanillin from
the wood.
- Currently in stock: 2007 DOMAINE SAINT-AMANT "BEAUMES DE
VENISE" Tabardonne (Viognier/Roussanne) $17.99
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DOMAINE CLUSEL-ROCH
 A rather tiny property, this firm is located in Ampuis and produces a few bottles of
Condrieu and a few more of Côte-Rôtie.
Run by Gilbert Clusel and Brigitte Roch,
they have something like 3 hectares of Syrah vineyards and a half of a hectare of
Viognier. The Côte-Rôtie sees time in new wood and seasoned cooperage to achieve a
balance and highlight the spicy, bacony Syrah fruit.
If you taste a really young bottling, the wine "merely" shows
dark fruits...it takes a few years of aging in the bottle for the wine to
develop and blossom.
Brigitte opened a couple of bottles of their 1999 Côte-Rôtie
wines for us in 2008. These were, frankly, superb. Best wines
of my French visit, in fact.
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I tasted their 2002 vintage and, despite it being a tad light, the wine was
thoroughly delicious! We currently have the 2003 in stock. This
is a nicely done wine and it's drinkable now, if you like. I suspect
it will continue to develop for a few more years and maintain on a plateau
through 2015, or so. I don't find it to show as much wood as did
earlier vintages.
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They make an even tinier amount of Viognier from the Condrieu
appellation. This is a really fine example of Viognier and it sees a
bit of wood. The wine is peachy, dry and has a mild woodsy note.
- Currently in stock: 2003 Côte-Rôtie $49.99
2005 Condrieu List $60 SALE $49.99
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DOMAINE ALAIN GRAILLOT
 Moving from Paris to the northern
Rhône in the mid-1980s, Graillot has become the
leading producer of Crozes-Hermitage wines.
Graillot had been a fan of the wines of Guigal, Jaboulet and Grippat, so
when the opportunity for a new career path became available in 1985, he took
it, renting a vineyard in Crozes-Hermitage. Now he owns these
vineyards and he's a major luminary in the French wine scene.
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- His early vintages were quite good, putting him at the head of the
class.
His wines today are as good as ever. Graillot farms about 21 hectares
of vineyards, mostly in Crozes-Hermitage, though he does have a small
holding in Saint Joseph, as well.
Today Graillot's wines
are regarded as a bit of a benchmark for the appellation, though his
neighbor (and buddy) Laurence Combier also makes remarkably good wines.
The 2007 vintage of Crozes is quite good. This is a deep, dark Syrah
with tremendous Syrah fruit and spiciness. It's showing beautifully
today and will probably go into hibernation in 2011, or so. This is
normal with Graillot's wine. Impressively showy upon arrival to San
Francisco...then, maybe a year later they seem a bit quiet and maybe two or
three years later they start to blossom again.
Graillot makes a special bottling,
selecting his favorite barrels for this wine. It is labeled "La
Guiraude". We periodically have this in stock...not
presently, though.
- Currently available: 2007 Crozes-Hermitage $26.99
PAUL JABOULET AINE
 This winery
cranks out more than 2 million bottles of wine annually!
The Jaboulet family lost the 'recipe' and finally sold the winery to someone
more interested in producing good quality wines.
We had read some sad reviews of Jaboulet wines which mirrored our tasting
experience. I bought some bottles of 2005s and these show a marked
improvement in quality.
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- The crown jewel is their
"La Chapelle" bottling of Hermitage, a rare and expensive bottling which is
named after a chapel at the top of the hill. The wine is reportedly from two parcels
of vines owned by Jaboulet.
We trekked up to the "chapel" one winter's night in 2003
and nearly froze to death. But we did drink a nice bottle of 1999 La
Chapelle there.
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- The wine spends around a year in oak, not nearly as long
as Guigal ages his super-cuvees (3 years!) and it takes a long time to really evolve and
blossom in the bottle. We've periodically found some of Jaboulet's other wines to
have quality matching the price tags.
The 2005 La Chapelle is a very fine, but very young wine. I would not
suggest this wine as something to be opened in the next year or two.
If you don't mind spending two-hundred bucks for a wine to open in 2015 to,
say, 2020, then go ahead. If you're buying the 2005 to drink now,
you're wasting your money.
Jaboulet is always promoting its basic Côtes du Rhône, Parallele 45, but we're not fans of
the raisiny, over-ripe, jammy fruit this wine seems to display.
We have access to their full range of wines, so if you are looking for
something particular, please let us know. We recently included a
Saint-Joseph and a Crozes-Hermitage in a blind-tasting of 2005s...I liked
them both and was pleasantly surprised the wines showed as nicely as they
did.
 In a
blind-tasting of white wines from the Northern Rhône, I included both their
Crozes-Hermitage and Hermitage. The Hermitage fared very well,
finishing in second place out of the 8 wines.
Even better was their Crozes-Hermitage "Mule Blanche" which
finished in first place. It's less than half the money of the
Hermitage and it's a splendid bottle of wine.
Peach and ripe pear notes are enhanced by a touch of a woodsy element from
its maturation in oak barrels. Very fine!
- Currently available: 2005 Hermitage "La Chapelle"
SALE $199.99
2005 Crozes-Hermitage "Mule Blanche" $34.99
More Rhône Selections
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