The Rhone River was born high up on the Swiss Alps, starting as melt water at the foot of the Rhone glacier.  The river enters into Lake Geneva where it acquires dual citizenship, half French and half Swiss.  From the Lake, the river winds its way through the Jura and is joined by the Saone in Lyon.  The full flowing river displays itself in earnest near Vienne, carving a deep rift through the valley and flowing south where eventually it serenely empties into the Mediterranean.  It’s along this stretch that the 125 mile Cotes du Rhone appellation winds its way from Vienne to Avignon, encompassing the Northern and Southern Rhone.

Northern Rhone:
 
This region, winding its way along the mighty Rhone River, extends from Vienne to Valence.  The steep valley walls are lined, nearly continuously, with vineyards along the entire route.  This approach dates back to the Roman era, workers employing a technique developed for the steep and rocky slopes of the region.  It’s nearly impossible to travel the region along the Rhone and not be in awe of the valley vineyards carved deeply into the steep hillsides.  When we begin our video series with Guigal and Chapoutier, we’ll show you first hand the layout.

The climate of the region varies from continental in Northern Rhone (somewhat similar to its northerly neighbor Burgundy) to Mediterranean in the Southern counterpart.   This translates into more weather extremes in the north than south although there is one common characteristic between the two, the infamous mistral.  The mistral is a fierce northerly wind that results from the confluence of weather systems to the north of France.  Winds of up to 90mph race through the valley, often damaging grapes, vines and their canopy of leaves.  There is, however, a beneficial side to the wind, drying out the vines after a period of humid conditions and alleviating the risk of mildew and rot.

The soils of Northern Rhone vary from north to south.  The Cote Rotie (“burnt or roasted slope”) lies upon a light and dry granitic-sandy soil.  It’s within the Cote Rotie appellation that we find the famous Cote Brune and Cote Blonde soils, the darker, iron rich Brune from weathered rock and and the Blonde deriving from weathered schist and gneiss resulting in a lighter colored soil.  It’s on the Cote Blonde that the Viognier grape thrives while the Cote Brune supports Syrah.

The viticulture of Northern Rhone is very clearly defined.  Syrah is the sole red grape allowed in the production of red wines, defining the distinct muscularity and structure of these world class wines.  This is in distinction to Southern Rhone where up to thirteen separate varieties of grape can be used, Grenache often acting as the foundation.  While Northern Rhone is renown for its deep and meaty Syrah, don’t lose sight of the superb whites.  Viognier, a frequent albeit small component of Syrah wine, is the primary white grape of the region, but others with lesser known names such as Marsanne, Roussanne, Clairette, Picpoul, Bourboulenc and others produce truly world class whites.

Cote-Rotie

At the very northern end of the Northern Rhone lies one of the oldest appellations in France, the Cote Rotie.  Spanning nearly 560 acres along the western edge of the Rhone River near the village of Ampuis, its vineyards are carved into the steep slopes necessitating hand harvesting.  Only those with strong backs, legs and arms need apply!  The steep hills and terraces are angled south and southeast, receiving long hours of nourishing sunlight, especially during the summer when the sun sets at 10:00PM.  With erosion a frequent hazard, stone walls are often built around the land and terraces carved out to counteract the threat. 

The appellation’s soils are divided into two sections: the Cote Brune in the north and the Cote Blonde just to the south of the town of Ampuis.  The soils of the Cote Brune are primarily schist with varying amounts of iron oxide.  The schist is easily friable and has a chunky appearance.  Vines grown in this soil tend to be dark and tannic with a pronounced minerality.  The Cote Blonde, in contrast, is a light colored sandy soil derived from decomposed granite and quartz.  It’s from these soils that the Viognier grape displays its perfumed aromatics.

The two primary grapes of this appellation are Syrah and Viognier.  While the only red grape allowed is Syrah, up to 20% can be Viognier by law.  If Viognier is added, they must be co-fermented as well by law.  The result can be a wine that is simply magnificent and pure muscle, simultaneously displaying deep, dark, meaty and spicy aromas with hints of floral notes from the Viognier.  At its best, these wines are powerful in their youth, revealing only a hint of their future potential.  It’s only ten or perhaps twenty years later that they settle into a perfect balance of deep purple fruit, fully integrated and balanced tannins and acidity.
 
This appellation, as with so many in Rhone, has witnessed an unheralded rise in quality and price over the last decade, due to nearly perfect vintage and harvest weather conditions as well as improved winemaking and technology utilization.  At the center of this rise is, of course, E Guigal, steered by Marcel with the growing input of his winemaking son, Philippe.  This rapid rise in stature has not been lost on the experts and wine enthusiasts as prices of the upper end wines reach into the many hundreds of dollars.

Now for some names that you should search out, depending upon your time frame, budget and storage capacity.  Remember, if you’re going to invest in the high end names, be certain that you invest in the proper storage facilities.   If you’re looking to store away a star and willing to pay for it ($350-500+ on average), then you have to think of E. Guigal who hits homerun after homerun with their “La-La” wines: La Mouline, La Landonne and La Turque.  Stay tuned…..we’ll have some outstanding videos upcoming with son Philippe.  These wines are intense and powerful with nuances of fig, olive, tobacco, expresso coffee and smoky bacon, yet retain their balance of deep fruit and velvet tannins.  They’re wines that have the potential to age for twenty years or more and often need a good ten before settling down for drinking.  Philippe quipped that you either gift the wine to yourself far into the future or leave it for your children someday.   Right on Guigal’s heels is Michel & Stephane Ogier, Delas, Jean-Michel Gerin, Rostaing, Jean-Michel Stephan, and Chapoutier.  The Tardieu-Laurent 2005 Cote Rotie is an outstanding wine for the money.  The style of these wines since 2000 has tended toward deep, dark and muscular wines with lots of earthy nuances and sometimes chewy tannins.  These, in turn, are wines to pair with braised, grilled or braised beef, roasted lamb or game, pork or pork belly.  Next up…..Condrieu, Crozes-Hermitage, and Hermitage.

For Tucson retailers carrying Rhone wines, please click here.

Tags: Bourboulenc, Chapoutier, Clairette, Condrieu, Cote Blonde, Cote Brune, Cote Rotie, Crozes-Hermitage, Delas, Gerin, Grenache, Guigal, Hermitage, la landonne, La mouline, la turque, Marsanne, mistral, Northern Rhone, Ogier, Picpoul, Rostaing, Roussanne, Southern Rhone, Stephan, Syrah, Tardieu Laurent, Viognier