RHONE VALLEY’S RED WINES

The Rhone Valley always produced remarkable and cellar worthy red wines. They represent, still today, excellent value, despite unusually high increases in the last decade.
This rugged and beautiful region’s wines became famous when Robert parker, the lawyer who turned wine critique heaped lavish praise on them. Soon after, Rhone wines were sold at unprecedented and high prices.
Regardless, even at high prices, Rhone’s reds represent good value at every level of quality.
Ancient Greek traders were the first to plant vines, and subsequently Roman soldiers expanded those started by Greek traders.
Vineyards stretch from just south of Vienne, in the north, south to Avignon close to Marseille, and important French port on the Mediterranean Sea.
The grapes responsible for red wines are: grenache, syrah, mourvedre, carignan, cinsaut, counoise, grenache noir, petite syrah (a.k.a durif), picpoul noir, terret noir and vaccarese.
The topography of the valley changes drastically from south to the north. Whereas in south the vineyards are almost on flatlands, from Chateauneuf-du-Pape to Valence, north of the city most vineyards are on steep slopes sometimes up to 60 degrees and face east for longer exposure to sunshine.
Many of the vineyards in Cote Rotie and north are terraced, where only strong and experiences pickers can work. Mechanical harvesting is totally out of the question, physically and traditionally, making wines naturally more expensive, but better in quality and appearance.
Soils in the Rhone Valley change abruptly and frequently from fist-sized boulders in Chateauneuf-du-Pape to schist, sandy decomposed granite, quartz, and every composition imaginable in-between.
The Rhone valley is long, narrow, hot and windy in the summer, and cold, but not frigid in the winter.
Vineyards are relatively small, ownership fragmented, and large wineries are a rarity except for M. Chaputier, M. Guigal, Perrin at Fils, and Delas Freres.
Small producers with their own vineyards produce excellent quality, but generally ship to other European countries. Some venture to the U S market, but rarely to Canada, except for Vintages releases and Vintages Classics catalogue.
Of the small producers, Pierre Usseglio, Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe, Le Vieux Donjon, Roger Sabon et Fils, Chateau Rayas, Chateau La Nerthe, Montirius, Jean-Louis Chave, A. Clape, M. et S. Ogier, and R. Rostaing stand out. There are also many co-operatives that produce good quality.
Most of the small producers guard their reputation fiercely, and sell their wine in poor vintages in bulk to co-operatives rather than putting their name on the label of an inferior quality bottle or declassify it to a lower quality level.
Most experts divide the Rhone valley into north and south – north stretching from Vienne to Valence, and south from valence to Chateauneuf-du-Pape. In the northern part, the red grape of preference and dominance is syrah a petit grain. The grapes are small and thick-skinned imparting to the wine a dark red, almost impenetrable colour, and depth of flavour with floral notes.
In the southern part, a range of red grapes is planted and practically all wines are blended to marketed as generic products. Knowledge of geographical location of villages and appellations help to make favourable buying decisions.
In the north, Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, Cornas, St Peray, Cote Rotie (See sidebar), St. Joseph and Condrieu are famous for their cellar worthy, full-bodied wines. Of all the most famous, at least since a decade or so, is Cote Rotie mostly made famous by Marcel Guigal with his blend of Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde.
Brune’s soil is schistose yielding dark, tannic and mineral tasting wines, whereas Cote Blonde soil consists of decomposed granite, and quartz resulting in aromatic, finely textured and elegant wines. A skilfully blended Cote Rotie, when appropriately long cellared, is delightful, deeply flavoured, brilliant, layered, and silky-smooth with a long aftertaste.
Of the two, Cote Rotie Brune is the smaller. There are other Cote Rotie single vineyard producers with outstanding products, i.e M. Chapoutier, Jamet , Gerin and Ogier.
Hermitage, Croze-Hermitage, Cornas, St. Peray, Condrieu are well known, much appreciated, and represent good value if and when judiciously selected.
In the southern Rhone Valley, the famous regions are Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, Vaqueyras, Rasteau, Seguret, Sablet, Costieres de Nimes, Valreas, and Vinesobres represent value.
Lirac and Tavel are famous for their lively rose wines made from grenache.
The region has more vineyards on flatlands since it is easy to work and hence able to rpoduce less expensive, but quality wines.
Of all, Chateauneuf-du-Pape is the most famous and demands the highest prices. Here, up to 13 varieties of grapes are allowed, including white grapes to lighten the blend. Some Chateauneuf-du-Pape wines offer organoleptic bliss, whereas others fail to deliver. Choosing a reputable producer is crucial
Vaqueyras and Cornas are two other appellations worthy of consideration. Costieres de Nimes has a few chateaux and domains that make excellent wines.
Rhone vintages are relatively consistent, more so in the south than north.
The best vintages in the last decade were ; 1999, 2003, 2007 (north); 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 (south).

COTE ROTIE

Starting shortly south of Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France, the northern section of the Rhone Valley extends 70 kilometres along the western banks of the mighty Rhone River, from Vienne to Valence.
The best vineyards are steep with southeastern exposure, but some are on flatlands.
Syrah is the red wine grape par excellence, and viognier, marsanne, and roussanne are officially sanctioned for whites.
The Cote Rotie (literally roasted slope) is on the northernmost tip of the section, and is world famous for its red wines. No white wine is produced in Cote Rotie, but up to 20 per cent viognier may be blended into the red. Cote Rotie was made famous by the masterful blending of M. Guigal. He achieved unprecedented success with his genial blending techniques, and charges extraordinarily high prices for his Cote Rotie Blonde and Cote Rotie Brune wines which are great demand.
The Cote Rotie appellations encompass – St Cyr sur le Rhone, Ampuis and Tupin Sumons.
All told, Cote Rotie contains 1250 hectares over a seven kilometres stretch tended by over 130 growers. The total production is 100 000 cases.
Cote Rotie vineyards are divided into two sections Cote Brune (in the north) has rust-coloured, friable chunky schistose soil, producing dark and tannic wines with pronounced minerality similar to “iron”.
The soil of Cote Blonde is light in colour, sandy, with quartz and decomposed granite, yielding perfumey wines with smooth texture and finesse.
The lieux-dits (single vineyards) in Cote Brune are: Chavaroche, Cote Brune, La Brocarde, Les Rochains, Landonne, Cote Rozier, Champon, Rozier, Grandes Places, and La Villiere.
Cote Blonde’s lieux-dits are: Cote Blonde, Lancement, Coteaux de Tupin, and Maison Rouge.