Rhone Wine Tours

Home
Rhone Wine Tours

Wine tours and tastings throughout the Rhone Valley, from Chateauneuf-du-Pape to Cote-Rotie and from Avignon to Lyon.

Wine tours throughout the Rhone Valley and wine tastings at a place to suit you.

25/01/2025

Blue skies and snow will always lift the spirits (even if the snow is a bit sparse at the moment). And chasselas, cheese and smoked meat will never be far away.

22/01/2025

That's how we roll.

21/01/2025

Great winemaker, human dynamo and all-round lovely person, Christelle Betton, Domaine Betton, La Roche de Glun, Crozes-Hermitage

We were there to taste everything from 2023 and '24 - Crozes-Hermitage in red and white (two cuvées of each), Hermitage blanc and, for the first time, Christelle's new Saint Joseph rouge.

I have been buying the red Crozes "Espiègle" for more years than I care to count and I'm a big fan of her white Crozes "Circé", which comes from a plot on Hermitage hill, but I'll certainly be making space for the St Jo. It has all of Christelle's freshness and purity of fruit - floral blackcurrant - but is also recognisably a St Jo from the granite of Chavanay.

20/01/2025

Sylvain Gauthier, Domaine des Pierres Sèches, Ozon (St Joseph)

Tasting with Sylvain is never less than comprehensive - all the cuvées, often multiple vintages, and frequently the constituent parts as well. Hence the not very glamorous plastic jug in photo 2 which, if I remember correctly, contained four different barrel samples of his "classic" Saint Joseph 2023 blended to give a rough idea of the finished wine.

15/01/2025

January 14th. A very sunny but sub-zero morning at the foot of Hermitage hill. There's a day of tastings ahead - '24s in barrel and tank, '23s, some of which have been bottled, and the odd '22 still waiting patiently.

07/01/2025

Stacking up the bottles from the last few weeks I realise that I have made a vinous tour of France.

Most regions are covered. Other than the Bordeaux, there's nothing from the south west, but I do know that I enjoyed a very good Cahors before Christmas. The most notable absence is Alsace, for which I can only apologise to the many excellent vignerons and vigneronnes in the region.

In Champagne, Carole Noizet's Blanc de Noirs
Coming south, the simple but charming Mâcon Peronne from the Azé co-op represents Burgundy
A bit further south again, the Beaujolais Nouveau from Chermette, all rasping cherry fruit
Off to the east, a rare Persan from the Berthollier estate in Savoie
Heading south west, towards the Rhône, the Clairette de Die from the excellent Raspail estate, which works so well with all the sweet treats of Christmas.
Into the Rhône proper, Rouge Bleu's 100% carignan, a grape I like a lot
In the Languedoc, Les Zazous is an unexpected (and successful) pinot noir from picpoul country
Maucaillou is classic red Bordeaux that doesn't knock you over the head
And finishing back in the relative north, a cabernet franc from Saumur Champigny.

Bonne Année

31/12/2024

This New Year I'll be supporting England (although I'm sure that France will get a look in).

I'm absolutely delighted to see English (and Welsh) wine go from strength to strength. I always tried to have a decent selection on my shelves but in the thirteen years since I left London's wine trade the choice has exploded. I live surrounded by vineyards in the southern Rhône but I still get a kick out of seeing vines in Sussex and Kent (other counties are available).

19/12/2024

Domaine Christophe Billon, Côte-Rôtie "Les Elotins" 2014

2014 was very far from my favourite Rhône vintage, whether in the south or north. I bought very little, especially of the more prestigious crus, as older vintages that I preferred were still available at similar prices. One of the few Côte-Rôtie that I spent my hard-earned cash on was this. Even so, given '14s were generally less structured, less concentrated, I wasn't sure how it would be after 10 years.

If it's possible, Les Elotins seems to have gained weight and colour since I last tasted it around 7 years ago. It's still dark and, remarkably, a bit closed. And the tannins certainly haven't had their final say. There are red fruits, licorice, charcoal, a touch of petrol and, as it opens up, red plum.

It's not enough to change my general view of 2014, but I can't believe how young, how just plain good it is.

13/12/2024

Domaine Le Roc, Fronton "Le Classique" 2020

The south west of France is a treasure trove of local grape varieties giving each region its own strong identity - malbec in Cahors, tannat in Madiran, mansois in Marcillac and so on. In Fronton the native grape in négrette, in this case associated with a splash of syrah and a drop of cabernet sauvignon.

So much character for less than 7€ in my local supermarket - wild plums, blackcurrant, a bit of spice. It's a bit untamed, but in a very good way.
leroc

10/12/2024

Margot Boussard, winemaker at Domaine Olivier Boussard, Nitry

My all too brief stop in northern Burgundy happened to coincide with the "portes ouvertes" at Domaine Olivier Boussard where I picked up a few bottles of Chablis and Bourgogne blanc.

Margot was telling me that the estate's Bourgogne Rouge "Cuvée Margot" was named after her by her dad because the first vintage was 2001, the year of her birth. I suddenly felt very old.

If you live in London you can drink that very wine at Gordon's Wine Bar, the atmospheric drinking spot right by Embankment tube. As if you needed a reason.

04/12/2024

A one night stop in northern Burgundy where we eat and drink local (obviously). I start with a glass of very good Crémant de Bourgogne, although whose I couldn't say. With my "salade paysanne" (leaves, lardons, gizzards, croutons and a poached egg) I have a glass of Domaine Bardet's bone dry Petit Chablis and with my andouillette (tripe sausage) and fries, a glass of Domaine Ferrari's bright, juicy Irancy. My partner took the safer option of steak frites - you're either an andouillette person or you're not. Then, just for the hell of it, a glass of Domaine des Quatre Saison's Bourgogne Epineuil. A bit like the andouillette, you either love the knife-edge pinot noirs of northern Burgundy or you don't. Personally I can't get enough of them and the Quatre Saisons, bursting with red hedgerow fruit, was a delicious example of the type.

29/11/2024

Carole Noizet's estate is on the edge of the village of Thil on the massif de Saint-Thierry. It was one of the few parts of winemaking Champagne that I hadn't visited but as we were skirting Reims we decided to take a short detour off the autoroute.

Saint-Thierry isn't a region full of superstar estates - Chartogne-Taillet in nearby Merfy is probably the best known - but prices are remarkably reasonable.

Carole Noizet's "Selection" Brut cost me 19€ and of the three other cuvées I bought broke the most expensive, at 20.50€, was the blanc de noirs "Perle Noire". A spot of googling suggests her neighbours' wines are in the same ballpark.

The Selection is 50% chardonnay, 30% meurnier and 20% pinot noir. It's a delicate wine and tastes of lemon shortbread. The dosage is well-judged. Not the most complex champagne but ideal as an aperitif.

27/11/2024

La R***e du Vin de France has published a review of Châteauneuf-du-Pape's 2022 reds. 52 estates were chosen out of approximately 300 that produce wine under their own name. (This last number has been given to me by more than one winemaker but I haven't checked the official figures.) Let's call that just one in six. So I'm delighted that Rhône Wine Tours' friends - some of them not famous but producing great wine - have made the cut.

I choose to work with estates when they meet two criteria - are the wines good (obviously) and are the people who own/run them friendly and welcoming. RVF's review doesn't consider the latter but I'm delighted we see eye to eye on quality. Congratulations to...

Photo 1
Photos 2-4
Photo 5
Photos 6-7 .sabon
Photo 8

All of these estates export - for example, Galévan is available in the USA and UK. So even if the wines aren't available in your local supermarket/Majestic/K&L/etc, with a little patience you should be able to track them down.

20/11/2024

The London skyline from on high, November 20th

1 Looking out towards Canary Wharf
2 and 3 If you look closely you can see Saint Paul's cathedral and the London Eye
4 I could find out the actual name of this building but for many people it's just the one that resembles an old school mobile phone and was responsible for frying cars with its reflected sunlight.

It looks and was marvellously sunny but it was also 2°C and windy. My fingers were like blocks of ice.

19/11/2024

Morris dancing, Southport, November 16th

It's not every day that you come across traditional folk dancing in the middle of the street.

17/11/2024

Tesco wine.

I know I'm lucky. I live in the Rhône Valley. I have my pick of wineries on the doorstep where I can buy a bottle of great wine for less than 10€.

Liverpool, where I am right now, isn't known for its vineyards. But I even struggle to find a proper wine merchant (Bargain Booze doesn't count). Which leaves me with a choice, in this neighbourhood, of two supermarkets - a large Tesco and a Lidl.

Some context. Taxes make up a large part of the cost of wine in the UK, especially at the cheaper end of the market. And none of these bottles was expensive - £10-11 max - so the value of the wines themselves wasn't high. But then again, four of the five are in so-called Tesco's "Finest" range.

In order of opening...

Swartland Shiraz - a hole in the middle where the fruit should be. Blurred and dilute. Didn't finish - used some for cooking.

Côtes de Gascogne - colombard and petit mansang. For those who think cheap NZ sauvignon too subtle. I couldn't drink it although my partner thought it was fine.

Paul Mas Reserve Viognier - not just Reserve, also, apparently, single vineyard, although I can't imagine how big that vineyard is. It avoids the typical viognier clichés of apricot, violets etc by having no discernable character whatsoever. My local growers' co-op will sell me a 5 litre box of viognier for 15€ which is a big step up. On the other hand, it was drinkable.

Saint Chinian - some dark fruit, some earthiness, bit of spice. Not great but recognisably from the south of France.

Balfour English White - the best of the bunch. You need to like acidity but it doesn't smell like granny's perfume or cat's p*e. It has focus and definition. Put it with prawns and aioli or oysters and you'd be laughing. From memory, the blend includes chardonnay, bacchus and pinot noir (yes, you read that correctly). There may be some pinot blanc too.

This isn't a dig at Tesco in particular - they just happened to be local. The range is dull and brand-led but I could have repeated the experiment in just about all the big UK supermarkets. The only conclusion to be drawn here is god help you if you're a UK wine drinker on a budget.

13/11/2024

The Shard, London, November 12th

310 metres - a little over 1,000 feet - and 95 stories. Impressive because of its size but hardly beautiful.

12/11/2024

London, November 12th

A beautifully sunny morning on London Bridge - even the Thames looks blue.

The Square Mile, the financial heart of the city, has undergone a massive transformation in the last twenty years, but you can still find the old existing alongside the new - that porticoed building on the riverfront, dwarfed by its modern neighbours, is the old Billingsgate fish market.

Address

Telephone

+33605802946

Website

http://www.RhoneWineTours.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Rhone Wine Tours posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Rhone Wine Tours:

Shortcuts

Address
Telephone
Alerts
Contact The Business
Claim ownership or report listing
Want your business to be the top-listed Travel Agency?

Country:

City: