Wine tours and tastings throughout the Rhone Valley, from Chateauneuf-du-Pape to Cote-Rotie and from Avignon to Lyon.
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Wine tours throughout the Rhone Valley and wine tastings at a place to suit you.
A flying visit to London and a stop at one of my old haunts, Beppe's in Smithfield. I used to come here for pastrami sandwiches in the early-mid '90s when I worked around the corner. It's still popular with workers from Bart's, the City and, of course, cabbies and has been run by four generations of the same family since the early 1930s.
Domaine des Cognettes, Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Clisson 2020
43 months on its lees. This is not your typical Muscadet (not that I have anything against that, either). In fact, it's one of the best I think I've ever tasted. Its steeliness, its sinew combined with a certain richness, its subtlety are characteristics it shares with a wine like Chablis. But I would far rather spend my 17€ on this organic "cru" than a dreary generic Chablis. Excellent.
A very pretty, floral, grapey, precise muscat, but I particularly liked the sylvaner.
Often considered a workhorse grape, and treated with all the respect that implies, Alsace sylvaner is all too often over-cropped, dilute, lacking in any personality.
Back in London, long ago, I sold Ostertag's very good example and Domaine Mann's "Mouton Bleu" 2023 shows what you can do with sensible yields of around 40 hl/ha. Freshness, texture, orchard fruits, good length, it all fits together seamlessly.
A trio of '21 whites. Lovely wines, but in each case leaner than I have ever known them - the effect of a cool, rather wet vintage. Their freshness, steeliness even, has been very welcome in the current heat.
Corinne Depeyre, owner/winemaker at Domaine Corinne Depeyre, Tulette (Côtes du Rhône).
Corinne's organic estate produces a full range of Côtes du Rhône but the wine I'm focusing on, for two reasons, is her Vin de France, "Topless (photo 2).
Topless is 100% syrah and comes in at just 11% alcohol. It's juicy, fresh, lively, with the crunch of wild berries. I've drunk it twice recently and both times it was chilled. It's that sort of wine and, for all those reasons, unusual (unique?) in the southern Rhône.
The second reason, though, is the cause behind the name - part of the profits from the wine are donated to a local breast cancer charity.
If you don't live locally, the wine is available through the estate's online shop.
Etienne Plumet, Domaine La Cabotte, Massif d'Uchaux
Surrounded by producers from more prestigious crus - Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Rasteau, Cairanne and more - it was Etienne's wines from the little-known Côtes du Rhône Villages Massif d'Uchaux that ended up being my favourites at the small (but perfectly formed) wine fair organised by friend and local wine merchant, Rémi.
That the wines kept their focus and precision on such a hot, sultry evening was truly impressive. I have drunk La Cabotte's wines on numerous occasions over the last few years and they have never failed to please.
Côtes du Rhône Côtes du Rhône Wines Domaine La Cabotte
Cédric Guillaume-Corbin, owner/winemaker at Domaine La Péquélette, Vinsobres
I first came across Cédric's wines at a small fair in Vinsobres. He was showing his 2008s - generally considered a tricky vintage - while everyone else was on the star vintages of 2009 and '10. Nonetheless, his were the best wines at the tasting and I naturally wanted him to be part of the Rhône Wine Tours gang.
Sadly for me, Cédric, who runs a bit of a one man band, eventually decided that he couldn't carry on meeting tour groups. But no hard feelings - it doesn't stop him being one of the nicest people in wine and it's always a pleasure to meet up.
Domaine Serre Besson, Côtes du Rhône Villages 2020
Instagram isn't lacking in hyperbole and saying that this is the best value in the Rhône is a big claim. So I'll just say that I don't know a better price/quality ratio.
Owner/winemaker Victor Taylor declassified a wine entitled to the Vinsobres AOC and decided to sell it at 8€. It's from one of my favourite recent vintages and hugely drinkable.
Floréal and Souvignier Gris. No, me neither. But they are amongst a group of naturally disease-resistant grape varieties being cultivated by a small but dedicated group of winemakers. Higher resistance makes it easier to grow grapes organically and with fewer treatments. But the big question is, I suppose, does the wine taste any good?
Well my first reaction on tasting this was that it tasted very much like a white from the Languedoc, which is exactly where it's from. In other words, despite being made from two grapes I'd never tasted before, the wine has a local identity that comes first. Nothing weird to frighten anybody. One might even talk about terroir.
You wouldn't call it complex, but at less than 10€ what do you expect? The interest for me - especially in a year when so many winemakers have struggled against mildew - is in how these sorts of resistant grapes might help estates bring in a healthy, full crop without going crazy with their spraying.
Domaine Miolanne blanc 2023, Vin de France
Chardonnay, gewürztraminer and pinot gris from the volcanic soils of central France - near Clermont-Ferrand, to be precise.
Excellent balance between weight, richness, acidity and minerality. Well-dosed oak. The gewürztraminer element becomes more obvious if you don't chill the life out of it - there's that telltale touch of litchi but without the blowsiness that can come with it. And thankfully it's properly dry. An excellent wine from one of France's lesser-known wine regions. Good luck finding it though.
After my holiday I eased myself gently back into work by hosting an intimate birthday tasting. Not many wines, but always quality over quantity.
All were on fine form - if I'd been drinking I'd have happily taken a glass of any of them - but for me there were two absolute stars of the tasting. Discretion forbids me from saying which, but I'll tell you that one was from the southern Rhône and one from the north.
In order of tasting we had...
Châteauneuf-du-Pape blanc 2021boissonnet Condrieu 2022
Côte-Rôtie 2017
Crozes-Hermitage "Clos Les Cornirets" 2020
Domaine Gour de Chaulé Gigondas Tradition 2019
Muscat de Beaumes de Venise 2017
If you fancy a private tasting at your home or your holiday accommodation just drop me a line.
Rhône Wine Tours is taking a short break by the sea.
Being a bit of an old leftie - a Châteauneuf socialist? - I instinctively avoid Cassis and head towards La Ciotat where the shipbuilding cranes towering over the old harbour speak of the town's working class past (although now La Ciotat does a roaring trade in repairing the yachts of the super-rich).
You could say that La Ciotat reminds me of my upbringing in Liverpool (photo 2), if you ignore the weather of course.
Frédéric Boutin, Domaine La Boutinière, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Fred was on fine form on Friday, opening bottles left, right and centre and keeping us entertained for well over two hours - rather longer than I'd planned on but you don't stop a winemaker in full flow. Luckily it was the last stop of the day.
Fred and his CdP will always be special to me because his were the very first wines I imported in my former life as a wine merchant. Ah, we were both much younger then!
After tasting the constituent parts of his two CdP rouges 2023 from tank, barrel and amphora we moved on to the bottled wines. I was translating not taking notes so I hope Fred forgives me if I make a mistake, but from memory we tasted the "Classique" '22, '21 (very good given the difficult vintage), and 2014; the Grande Réserve 2020 and '19, the pure grenache "100" 2020, bottled to celebrate the estate's centenary; the white Côtes du Rhône 2023 and the CdP "Classique" and "Grande Réserve" '22. Given a choice I would take the GR 2019 (dense, powerful, just starting to get into its drinking window) and the Classique 2021 (yes, even over the '22).
I know, seen one cellar and you've seen them all. Except this one is right next to the Rhône in Tain l'Hermitage and I certainly hadn't been here before.
Those of you who know the Rhône well know that there are very few producers of Hermitage, especially red Hermitage. It's what comes of there being just 130-odd hectares of vineyard with no room to expand. I'm proud to work with three Hermitage rouge estates (plus, of course, Christelle Betton, who makes a lovely white) but it just so happened that yesterday none of them was free to see the group I was guiding. There are alternatives, of course. One - no names - well, that bridge was burned a while ago. Others don't want visitors and some I wouldn't want to visit even if they did. So, having tasted the wines several times, I contacted Ferraton Père et Fils and was welcomed with open arms.
Our host Stéphane was friendly and knowledgeable and extremely generous in what he poured, both in terms of quantity and quality. There were lots of good things to enjoy but if I'm going to stick my neck out I'm going to go with the Hermitage blanc 2021, the Condrieu 2022, a delicious Cornas "Patou" 2021 (from purchased crop - I think I know where) and the single vineyard Hermitage rouge "Les Dionnières" 2019. If they'll have me back, it won't be my last visit.
A two for one deal on Domaine Galévan.
I opened a bottle of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2015 to see how it's coming along. In short, it still needs a year or two. The nose is savoury - soy sauce, black olives, charcoal, bacon. With time, curry/turmeric.
There's fruit too - raspberry jam comes to mind, although I wouldn't say the wine is jammy. Cherry stones as well. But on the palate it's cherry fruit and that charcoal. The reason I say a year or two is because the tannins are still pretty imposing.
The second bottle is Galévan's Côtes du Rhône Villages blanc in what I believe is its first vintage, 2022. I thought the pricing pretty adventurous when I bought it - 26€ is not your typical Villages price - but I have to say it's worth every cent. On the nose, Christmas spices, sandalwood and oak. Then melon and marzipan/apricot kernels. The palate refers back to the marzipan with some bitter almond giving definition. I was made to think of the quinine in tonic water. All in all, it feels very grown-up in its flavour profile. I'm sure some people won't get it but I like it very much.
Mas des Chimères, Vin de France "Les Passantes" 2022
A blend of ribeyrenc and counoise, old grapes of the south. Any paler and it would qualify as rosé and it weighs in at just 12% alcohol. It's not got much body to speak of either. But none of that stops it being lovely wine. It smells intoxicatingly of dried petals and sits gently on the tongue, just asking to be drunk.
Well you can't say the tasting wasn't exhaustive - multiple wines in multiple vintages at Domaine Grand Nicolet in Rasteau.
Apart from producing a tremendous range of reds, owner/winemaker Jean-Pierre Bertrand also flies the flag for Rasteau Vin Doux Naturel with a solera-based Ambré, a Grenat and a Tuilé (currently 2004). The whole lot is criminally underpriced.
Domaine le Sang des Cailloux, Vacqueyras "Un Sang Blanc" 2019
I mentioned that I'd poured this wine at a recent tasting. I liked it so much I opened another just for me a few days later. It sums up all that's good in southern Rhône whites.
Though I say so myself, I think I chose a lovely selection of wines for last night's tasting - some young, some with a bit of age, old-school, classic, modern (you can put inverted commas around those adjectives as you see fit). Everything had something to say for itself.
Not included in the two photos are the whites, both of which I thought were delicious in their very different ways, and the Tavel, which, thanks to its relative age, at least in rosé terms, was probably the wine which most split opinion. For me it was rocks, spice and herbs rather than fruit, and nothing wrong with that.
The full line up was...
, Châteauneuf-du-Pape blanc 2021
Domaine Les Sang des Cailloux, Vacqueyras "Un Sang Blanc" 2019
,Tavel "Prima Donna" 2020
, Crozes-Hermitage "Espiègle" 2022johann , Cornas 2017
, Côte-Rôtie "Les Elotins" 2016
, Rasteau "Gramiller" 2020
, Gigondas "Le Mas" 2020
, Châteauneuf-du-Pape "Tradition" 2015
Élodie Balme, owner/winemaker in Rasteau.
Taking clients to Domaine Élodie Balme is always a pleasure and I would do it if only to introduce people to Élodie and her delicious wines. But, conveniently, it allows me to restock the cellar at the same time.
Old shop fronts in Montélimar.
The old town of Montélimar has a certain faded charm about it. Some would stress the faded but I prefer to focus on the charm. It is, of course, the capital of nougat (which, personally, I can live without). More interestingly for wine lovers, it's very close to the A7 autoroute and roughly half way between Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Côte-Rôtie. It's also on the high speed train line from Paris. So what's keeping you?
Moulin de la Gardette, Gigondas
I have always thought that Moulin de la Gardette makes some of the finest Gigondas you're ever going to taste. So although I don't include them in my tours - not for wine reasons, I hasten to add - I still occasionally pop in to their tasting room on Gigondas's village square.
Last week, having twenty minutes to kill after a winery visit finished earlier than anticipated - these things happen even with the best planning - I dropped in with two clients. They liked the wines so much they bought a couple of cases.
I would happily drink any of the wines we tasted (including Petite Gardette, not in the photo) but I was particularly taken by the flagship "Ventabren" 2021. In a difficult vintage Moulin de Gardette produced a wine of finesse, delicacy and class, lighter than other recent vintages (in body and colour), but beautifully drinkable.
Thanks to Agnès who hosted us at very short notice.
Victor Taylor, owner/winemaker Domaine Serre Besson, Vinsobres
It's always a pleasure to taste at Serre Besson and chew the fat with Victor, one of the Rhône's more cultivated vignerons. His wines do Vinsobres proud, although neither the pure grenache Pauvre Diable nor the 100% syrah Ragots qualify for the AOC (which requires Vinsobres to be a blend). Never mind, if you insist on drinking only appellation wines then you'll be very happy with Serre Besson's "vrai" Vinsobres - I honestly can't think of a better example. But if you forced me to choose I would take Pauvre Diable, an exquisite example of old vine grenache.
Mickaël Bourg, Cornas "Les P'tits Bouts" 2016
Each year, Mika Bourg makes a few hundred cases of Cornas and Saint Péray in his tiny cellar. The Cornas, especially, I love - always alive, slightly untamed. I don't know the sulphite levels, but I'm pretty sure this would qualify as a "natural" wine. Thankfully without the outright funkiness - faults even - that can come with that label.
Château Bois d'Arlène, Vacqueyras "Origine" 2016
Bois d'Arlène is an estate I've been taking people to for a couple of years now. The wines, both AOC Vacqueyras and IGP, are excellent, none more so than this 2016, but maybe not what comes to mind when you think of Vacqueyras. Origine has a sense of reserve, "coolness" almost, like the estate is above the day-to-day concerns of everyday local wines. Elegant, a much overused word in the wine lexicon, suits Origine very well indeed.
A massive thank you to Domaine La Barroche for inviting me and fellow wine guides to the estate yesterday. It was a cold, miserable day in Châteauneuf du Pape, with a bitter wind blowing, but it was great to tour the vineyards and taste both new and older vintages.
I would happily drink anything made by the estate - if you want proof, I have their wines in my cellar - but if you forced me to choose from yesterday's selection this would be what I would pick...
Pure Blanc 2023. If I was being really choosy, I'd go for the sample from the two year old barrel over the new barrel or the stainless steel.
Pure 2021. Glorious. Full-flavoured but delicate. Burgundian. Freshly picked strawberries. From 100 year old grenache in the lieu-dit of Rayas. Now where have I heard that name before?
Julien Barrot 2018. Julien himself said that '18 started out very tricky - if the spring rains had gone on any longer the crop would have been lost to disease. In the end though the wine has lovely fruit and freshness. Raspberry, bramble, licorice.
Photo 1 Laetitia Barrot (foreground) with Julien Barrot talking behind her in the Barroche ageing cellar.
Photo 2 Chatting in the cellars.
Photo 3 A windblown Laetitia telling us about one of the estate's few stony plots - old vine cinsault in the lieu-dit of "Le Lac".
Photo 4 Young counoise
Photo 5 Very old grenache in Rayas
Frédéric Julien, owner/winemaker at Domaine Gramiller in Rasteau
Fred was on fine form when I visited him this week, partly, I suspect, because my clients were fellow winery owners at in Oregon. So he immediately dragged us to the cellar with glasses so we could taste the latest vintages from concrete and amphora (there may have been some barrel too but I started to lose track). Speaking for myself, favourites were the single vineyard Rasteau "Gramiller" '23, which explodes in the glass, and a restrained but fascinating saline clairette from amphora which will go into "Rêve Blanc".
Back in Fred's small tasting room we sampled bottled vintages. Zero added sulphite Rasteau "Sol" '22 was deliciously forward, the white CdR "Plenitude" '23 is all you could wish for at 11€.
Without trying it I asked Fred for my regular case order of his non-aoc grenache/alicante blend. Fred suggested not taking the '22 on display but instead the bottled but not released '23. In another Fred experiment, for '23 he vinified the grenache as a red and the alicante as a rosé and then blended them. I've yet to try it - Fred suggested waiting a short while after its recent bottling - but Fred seems very happy with it. My clients seemed very taken with his unfined, unfiltered, frankly cloudy Rasteau Tuilé vin doux. Ignore the appearance and it was easy to see why.
As is often the case, I was so involved in the tasting that I forgot to take a photo (in fact none all day). This one comes from a previous visit.
Sophistication, understatement, style (but not over substance). In other words, class.
Domaine Les Sang des Cailloux, Vacqueyras "Un Sang Blanc" 2017
Domaine La Fourmone, Vacqueyras "Le Fleurantine" 2015
Also available in white...
Vacqueyras means red for most people. Hardly surprising when fewer than one bottle in ten is anything else. But these two - and others, it should be said - show that the aoc can produce great whites.
2017 was a hot, dry vintage and I feared that the Sang des Cailloux might have been over the hill. It was superb. Yes, on the second day its age was starting to show a touch, but still a delight. Quince, yellow plum and beautifully handled oak. Powerful but not at all flabby.
The Fourmone was two years older again. Even in magnum, it would have been unfair to expect it to be in the first flush of youth, especially as the estate recommends keeping it no more than five years. It was showing its extra age in the honey and almonds on the nose but it was far from having said its final word.
Home from home. Apricot blossom...in London.
The Rhône Valley produces enormous amounts of stone fruit - peaches, cherries and, especially, apricots. You couldn't say the same for London but here we are at the wonderful Chelsea Physic Garden.
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