Rhone/southern France

La Chapelle - HermitageWhen driving south through France it always feels that as one reaches Lyon it should become hot and sunny – somewhat prematurely as there are still over 300 kilometers before reaching the Mediterranean. So the northern Rhone is cool, the northern limit of Syrah and that is what makes the grape perform so magically here, triumph through struggle. And it is a struggle, much of the good or great wine is grown on precipitous hillsides, steeply and narrowly terraced and useless as a workplace for those with vertigo.  Viognier, the north’s most high maintenance grape variety is grown in similar conditions and the combination of hillside, river and the beginnings of mistral are essential to quality. Marsanne and Roussanne are other white wine vines found in this area where in fact white wine used to dominate. Côte Rôti, Condrieu, St-Joseph, Hermitage, Crozes, Cornas and St-Peray make up the north.

In the south, after a bit of a gap in the vines and some majestic wind turbines cunningly sited along the autoroute the southern Rhone begins. Supplementary: which two types of confectionary are produced in the Rhone valley? In the south we are much nearer the Med and Grenache takes over from Syrah as dominant red. Villages like Sablet, Rasteau, Gigondas and Chateauneuf-du-Pape all make hedonistic wines of varying quality and style. Picking the best and most interesting and delicious is our job. 

The south also gives us lipsmacking rosés from Tavel and Lirac. Travelling south and west from the plateau of Chateauneuf brings us to first Languedoc and then Roussillon, two regions lumped together yet of very different character. The former displays a split personality with many growers of the old school lost and angry as they fail to adapt to the loss of subsidies and the arrival of the market. On the other hand there are contemporary growers, entrepreneurial and energetic and often incomers, though plenty of natives are enthused by their vineyards' potential too. Their's is a green and pleasant land. Roussillon is rockier, more austere, a Catalan land of fortified houses and fortified wines on a bleaker, more imposing landscape.

 

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Vintage Descriptionsort descending Cs Sz Bt Sz Cs Bts Cs ib Cs inc Bt inc
2017 drink or keep Alain Brumont Chateau Montus
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6x 75cl 3 5 £120.00 £163.24 £31.95 Buy
2018 drink or keep Beaucastel Chateauneuf Hommage J Perrin
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3x 75cl 3 0 £660.00 £801.62 £299.00 Buy
2010 ready Beaucastel Chateauneuf Roussanne VV
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6x 75cl 1 0 £960.00 - - Buy
2015 drink or keep Chapelle St Theodoric CNDP Le Grand Pin
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3x 150cl 1 0 £360.00 - - Buy
2013 ready Chapoutier Bila-Haut Occultum Lapidem
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6x 75cl 3 0 £60.00 - - Buy
2018 drink or keep Chapoutier Bila-Haut VIT Ctes Roussillon
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6x 75cl 2 0 £180.00 £239.09 £46.95 Buy
2019 drink or keep Chapoutier Bila-Haut VIT Ctes Roussillon
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6x 75cl 2 0 £195.00 £253.24 £46.95 Buy
2020 young Chapoutier Bila-Haut VIT Ctes Roussillon
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6x 75cl 2 0 £195.00 - - Buy
2020 drink or keep Chapoutier Chateauneuf Croix de Bois
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6x 75cl 2 5 £290.00 £371.86 £69.95 Buy
2008 ready Chapoutier Chateauneuf-du-Pape Barbe Rac
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6x 75cl 2 0 £330.00 - - Buy
2009 ready Chapoutier Chateauneuf-du-Pape Barbe Rac
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6x 75cl 1 0 £300.00 - - Buy
2011 ready Chapoutier Chateauneuf-du-Pape Barbe Rac
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6x 75cl 1 0 £330.00 - - Buy
2018 drink or keep Chapoutier Cote Rotie Mordoree
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6x 75cl 2 2 £450.00 £559.24 £105.00 Buy
2020 drink or keep Chapoutier Cote Rotie Mordoree
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6x 75cl 2 0 £480.00 £595.24 £110.00 Buy
2008 drink or keep Chapoutier Ermitage L`Ermite Rouge
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6x 75cl 1 0 £900.00 - - Buy
2018 drink or keep Chapoutier Ermitage Le Meal Rouge
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6x 75cl 0 5 £795.00 £973.24 £185.00 Buy
2019 drink or keep Chapoutier Ermitage Les Greffieux Rouge
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6x 75cl 1 0 £525.00 £653.09 £125.00 Buy
2020 drink or keep Chapoutier Ermitage de l`Oree Blanc
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6x 75cl 1 0 £770.00 £943.24 £175.00 Buy
2019 drink or keep Chapoutier St-Joseph Le Clos Rouge
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6x 75cl 0 3 - £589.24 £110.00 Buy
2020 drink or keep Chapoutier St-Joseph Le Clos Rouge
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6x 75cl 1 0 £475.00 £589.24 £110.00 Buy
2022 young Chapoutier St-Joseph Les Granits Blanc
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6x 75cl ep ep £240.00 - - Buy
2020 drink or keep Charbonniere Vacqueyras
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6x 75cl 3 1 £96.00 £139.06 £25.95 Buy
2018 ready Charles Hours Jurancon Moelleux Uroulat
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6x 75cl 4 0 £96.00 £134.44 £24.95 Buy
2016 drink or keep Chateau Bouscasse Madiran
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6x 75cl 1 4 £81.00 £116.44 £21.95 Buy
2022 ready Chateau Pesquie 974 Viognier
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12x 75cl 0 10 £78.00 £132.07 £12.95 Buy

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