Northern Rhône

45 Viognier Vin de Pays des Collines Rhodaniennes 2009 - SOLD OUT
Christophe Pichon

Grape:100% Viognier (13.5% alc.)

This comes from 20 year old vines planted at the top of a granitic slope south of Serrières. It was vinified in cuve, though 40% was given a two months elevage in two year old barrels to add a little texture. Christophe made just 2000 bottles of this delicious wine that will appeal to all lovers of Condrieu. Well balanced, refreshing and mineral, outstanding value for quality viognier. For drinking now to 2012.

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46 Crozes-Hermitage Rouge AC 2009 Vieilles Vignes
Domaine du Murinais

Grape:100% Syrah (12.5% alc.)

Luc Tardy took over the reins at this domaine in 1998 and is fashioning better wines every year. His Crozes is very supple and pure with lipsmacking liquorice, black cherries and a touch of spice on the palate, and the oak elevage now marries really well with the weight of the wine. For drinking now to 2012.

* Half bottles are available

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*New* 47 Crozes-Hermitage Blanc AC 2010
Champ Morel

Grape:80% Marsanne, 20% Roussanne (12.5% alc.)

Martine Vandre’s white Crozes is made from classic mix of 25 year old marsanne and roussanne aged in two thirds cuve and one third oak (three to eight year old barrels). It offers hints of apricot, quince and mango on the nose, which follow through on the palate, where the controlling influence of limestone helps retain a freshness and dynamism. Available September. For drinking now to 2013.

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*New* 48 Crozes-Hermitage Rouge AC 2009
Champ Morel

Grape:100% Syrah (12.5% alc.)

This excellent wine comes from 30 year old vines planted both in alluvial soil in Beaumont-Monteux and clay-limestone hillsides in Chanos-Curson. Mid-red, it offers a gorgeous nose of mulberries and black cherries enhanced by a well judged elevage in a mix of old foudres, five year old barrels and cuve. For drinking now to 2014.

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49 St-Péray AC 2009 Les Pins
Bernard Gripa

Grape:80% Marsanne, 20% Roussanne (13% alc.)

This comes from 40 year old vines in a limestone soil and is 50% cuve and 50% oak aged. Peachy with a hint of acacia, it has a lovely purity. For drinking now to 2015+.

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50 St-Péray AC 2009 Les Figuiers
Bernard Gripa

Grape:60% Roussanne, 40% Marsanne (13% alc.)

This is Gripa’s top St Péray made from vines averaging 60 years. It has an extra dimension of richness, fine greengage and peach aromas, and retains the appellation’s characteristic freshness. For drinking now to 2016+.

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51 St-Joseph Blanc AC 2009
Bernard Gripa

Grape:80% Marsanne, 20% Roussanne (13% alc.)

Produced from 25 year old vines on hillside terraces between Mauves and Tournon, Fabrice’s St-Joseph white is always a little richer than his St-Péray, though he is very adept at ensuring that it remains fresh and balanced. For drinking now to 2014+.

* Half bottles are available

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52 St-Joseph Rouge AC 2009
Bernard Gripa

Grape:100% Syrah (13% alc.)

The Gripas have a wonderfully sensitive touch with their wines and their red St-Joseph generally opens up a little before that of Gonon. Their 2007 has an elegant framework, with black cherry fruit, spice and an irony relief on the palate. It is supple and accessible in its youth, rather along the lines of the 2004 though with more concentration. For drinking now to 2015.

* Half bottles are available

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53 St-Joseph Blanc AC 2009 Les Oliviers
Pierre Gonon

Grape:80% Marsanne, 20% Roussanne (13.8% alc.)

Les Oliviers, just to the north of Mauves is an excellent vineyard for the production of rich whites. The soil here is ancient Rhône alluvium and some loess on a granitic bedrock. It is rich and opulent with apricot and quince fruit cosseted by an irony minerality derived from granite. For drinking now to 2016+.

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54 St-Joseph Rouge AC 2007
Pierre Gonon

Grape:100% Syrah (13% alc.)

60-90 year old vines from Saint-Jean-de-Muzols provide a real backbone to this wine. The Gonons destalked 15% in 2007 and trod the grapes down twice a day during the fermentation in open top wooden vats. They have produced a perfect example of northern Rhône syrah, with black fruits cut through with an irony grip from the granitic soil. The 2007 has delectable fruit and is already showing well. For drinking now to 2016+.

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55 Cornas AC 2006 Empreintes
Eric & Joel Durand

Grape:100% Syrah (13.5% alc.)

Empreintes is the main cuvée from this very promising domaine. It comes from vines from Cornas’ top lieu-dits Chaillot and Reynards, and is aged in new to five year old barrels. On the nose there is a wonderful blast of black fruits, mint, liquorice, violets and irony stamp from the granitic soil. Ripe black cherries with a hint of spice and well-integrated oak mark the palate, and the wine is both balanced and elegant. Throws a natural deposit, so carafing advised. For drinking now to 2015.

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*New* 56 Cornas AC 2007
Guillaume Gilles

Grape:100% Syrah (14% alc.)

Guillaume’s vines are 31 years old from the fine lieu-dit of Chaillot. Following Robert Michel’s path, the grapes were not destalked and the wine has been aged in two thirds 400 litre barrels and bottled without fining or filtration. A natural, very unforced elegance here with attractive black spicy fruit and good substance. For drinking now to 2020.

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57 Cornas AC 2005 La Geynale
Robert Michel

Grape:100% Syrah (13% alc.)

Another northern Rhône classic from vines dating back to 1910, on a very sheltered southerly facing hillside of granite. This is Robert’s top cuvée and has the hallmark Cornas backbone, depth of fruit and staying power – the 1985 was drinking perfectly in February 2005! For drinking now to 2025.

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*New* 58 Côte-Rôtie AC 2008 Les Triotes
Domaine Garon

Grape:100% Syrah (12.5% alc.)

This comes from four lieu dits and 20 year old vines in the gneiss-oriented ‘terroir blond’ in the centre of the appellation just south of Ampuis. Aged for 21 months in new to 15 year old barrels and demi-muids. The nose offers black fruits, violets, olives and pepper, and the palate is then supple and elegant, with similar flavours and fine grained tannins. For drinking now to 2016.

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59 Côte-Rôtie AC 2006
David & Benjamin Duclaux

Grape:95% Syrah, 5% Viognier (13% alc.)

The young Duclaux brothers are pushing this domaine quickly through to the top of the Côte-Rôtie hierarchy. This has a lovely, clear mid-red colour extending right out to the rim. Nicely stamped by a stony, irony flavour imparted by gneiss, 2006 is a supple, elegant wine with red fruits mingled with prunes and liquorice. For drinking now to 2015.

* Magnums are available

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60 Côte-Rôtie AC 2005
Domaine Clusel-Roch

Grape:96% Syrah, 4% Viognier (12% alc.)

Clusel-Roch’s Côte-Rôtie is primarily from Les Viallières lieu-dit, to the north of the appellation, on thin soils developed from underlying schist. The vines were grafted from their own massale selection of low yielding ‘petite serine’ syrah from their 70 year old vineyard of Les Grandes Places. The 2005 is most attractive with a sophisticated purity, clear cut fruit, stony flavours from schist and fine grained tannins. For drinking now to 2020.

* Half bottles are available

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61 Hermitage AC 2008 Les Greffieux - Bessards
Bernard Faurie

Grape:100% Syrah (13.5% alc.)

Les Greffieux is a lieu-dit where the soils mix alluvial Rhône stones and decomposed granite over a granite base rock. Bessards, where the soil and mother rock are made of granite, provides structure and backbone. The vines average 80 years of age and produced a wine in 2008 with good texture, raspberry and black fruit, iron, hint of black pepper and fine grained tannin. For drinking late 2012 to 2020.

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*New* 62 Condrieu Les Vallins AC 2010
Christophe Blanc

Grape:100% Viognier (13.5% alc.)

This wine comes from young vines in the two lieu dits of Piaton and La Maraze. A very well handled elevage helps the wine retain freshness and the granitic soil gives this apricot and peach rich viognier an added complexity. The nose is intensely aromatic and offers delicious fruit aromas of ripe pear complemented with elegant floral notes. The palate is very delicate and elegant , perfectly balanced and the long finish is all about freshness.

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63 Condrieu AC 2008 Chéry
Domaine André Perret

Grape:100% Viognier (13.5% alc.)

This is one of the classic wines of the northern Rhône, made by one of viognier’s true masters. From 50 year old wines, on a steep south-facing terraced hillside of granitic soil rich in quartz and mica minerals, this wine has real power and an opulent concentration of spicy, apricot and peach fruit. It is bone dry and there is a notable mineral presence on the finish. For drinking now to 2015+.

* Magnums are available

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64 Condrieu AC 2009 Verchery
Domaine Clusel-Roch

Grape:100% Viognier (14% alc.)

It is refreshing and increasingly rare to find a balanced, elegant Condrieu such as this. It originates from a vineyard that straddles the two fine lieu-dits of Côteaux de Vernon and Chéry, where the soil is derived from a granite mother rock. Using indigenous yeasts, aged and vinified in a mix of one to four year old barrels (2/3) and in cuve (1/3), this is lighter than Perret and Pichon’s Condrieu, with perfect balance, good acidity and mineral imprint. For drinking now to 2015+.

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Northern Rhône

Many of these beautiful wines are produced from tiny terraced vineyards that cling precariously to the hillsides bordering the Rhône between Saint-Péray and Vienne. The physical work demanded by these hillside vineyards is so extreme (in the words of Hamish Anderson from The Tate, “whoever thought of planting grapes here must have been on mushrooms!”) that it makes working in other viticultural areas look easy by comparison. It is physically practically impossible for a family to work a vineyard of much more than seven or eight hectares.

The Duclaux family in the southern sector of Côte-Rôtie, where the thin, sandy, granitic and gneiss derived soil is very prone to erosion, spend on average 1000 man hours a year just repairing the walls lining the terraces. And at Clusel-Roch I have seen them hand ploughing the soil between vine rows on a 60? hillside. There has to be a degree of balancing compensation for all this effort. And it’s not in terms of a vast income – the Duclaux family have six full-time employees for five and a half hectares of vines, from which they produce 19,000 bottles only a year. Charging prima facie a relatively high price per bottle simply enables them to earn a very modest income. Instead, the compensation for Gripa, Gonon, Duclaux, Perret, Michel, Garon and Clusel-Roch is that they produce some of the finest, most elegant terroir driven wines emanating from France today. I could not recommend them more strongly.

New wines of special note this year include the Côte-Rôtie from Domaine Garon. Now run by two brothers in their late twenties, and assisted by their parents, the Garons have just under five hectares of vines. Most of their vines are planted in the gneiss-dominant soils of the Côte Blonde, although they also have one excellent wine ‘Rochins’, from a half hectare plot of 30 year old vines in the schist-dominant lieu dit of the same name. Côte-Rôtie from gneiss soils tend to be very supple, elegant and open and are very well suited to drinking in their relative youth.

Also new this year, Guillaume Gilles in Cornas, who worked with Jean-Louis Chave in Hermitage for five years before renting two hectares of Cornas Chaillot from recently retired Robert Michel. He also uses Robert’s cave for ageing and so Robert is always on hand if any advice is needed. Unusually for Cornas, Guillaume ploughs the soil, and follows a very natural course in the cave (no destalking, natural yeasts, no fining, no filtration). His wine has a real local feel and true Cornas character.