Southern Rhône

59 Côtes du Ventoux AC 2008
Martinelle

Grape:70% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 5% Carignan, 5% Cinsault (14.5% alc)

This is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or more accurately a Rhône-Villages from Beaumes de Venise reclassified after the war as a Côtes du Ventoux. It is a rich, supple, very well balanced wine with hints of liquorice, spice, garrigue herbs nicely cut through by the tempering influence of limestone. For drinking now to 2011.

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60 Cairanne Blanc AC 2009 Réserve des Seigneurs
Domaine de l’Oratoire Saint-Martin

Grape:50% Roussanne, 40% Clairette, 10% Viognier (13.5% alc.)

The Alary brothers choose cooler eastern facing slopes in the hills to the northeast of the Cairanne appellation for this white. It is a delicious blend with exotic fruits, touch of honey and a rare freshness. For drinking now to 2011.

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61 Côtes-du-Rhône AC 2005 Vieilles Vignes
Domaine de Ferrand

Grape:90% Grenache, 7% Syrah, 3% Cinsault (14% alc.)

Côtes-du-Rhône from a good Châteauneuf estate is always a great bargain. Philippe Bravay selects only 25% of his wine for bottling – from the best sites and 50 year old vines. The 2005 is a revelation – destalked 100%, it is really spicy on the nose, with beautifully composed fruit, lots of character and complexity. For drinking now to 2011.

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62 Côtes-du-Rhône AC 2006
Domaine Charvin

Grape:85% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 5% Mourvèdre (14% alc.)

This wine is given just the same care as Charvin’s Châteauneuf. There is a 15 day cuvaison with no destemming before 16 months in cuve prior to bottling without filtration. The 2006 is another outstanding example with an excellent structure and a very natural unforced quality to the spicy fruit. For drinking now to 2012.

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63 Rasteau Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages AC 2004 les Adrès
Domaine du Trapadis

Grape:70% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 10% Carignan, 10% Mourvèdre (14.5% alc.)

An organic approach to viticulture, old vines, low yields (20 hectos per hectare) all help to produce this fine, long-lived wine. A very deep black cherry colour, there is a mineral quality on the nose and dense, tightly packed fruit. For drinking now to 2014.

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64 Rasteau Vin Doux Naturel AC 2007
Domaine du Trapadis

Grape:90% Grenache, 10% Carignan (15% alc.)

This is a fine VDN with cigar leaf, raisin, prune and fig flavours typical of the grenache. Delicious with rich chocolate desserts. For drinking now to 2013. Sweet, price per 50cl.

* Half bottles are available

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65 Cairanne Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages AC 2006/2007 Réserve des Seigneurs
Domaine de l’Oratoire St Martin

Grape:60% Grenache, 30% Mourvèdre, 10% Syrah (14% alc.)

The Alary brothers believe that a good proportion of mourvèdre (30% here from old vines on a south facing hillside) is vital both to temper the power and complement the grenache. This cuvée drinks well in its youth and it offers attractive dark cherry fruit and spice with good length on the palate. For drinking now to 2012.

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66 Cairanne Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages AC 2006 Cuvée Prestige
Domaine de l’Oratoire Saint-Martin

Grape:60% Grenache, 40% Mourvèdre (14.5% alc.)

This is the domaine’s top unoaked cuvée, from vines aged up to 98 years, yielding on average just 18 hectos per hectare. It offers characterful spicy, red fruit, liquorice and a hint of thyme and freshly milled black pepper. For drinking now to 2014.

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67 Vacqueyras AC 2007 Floureto
Domaine Le Sang des Cailloux

Grape:75% Grenache, 25% Syrah (14% alc.)

Floureto (the provencal name of one of Serge Ferigoule’s three daughters), comes from Vacqueyras’ best vineyards on the plateau below Gigondas with classic soil mix of limestone-clay and river pebbles. It has a deep plum colour (unfined/unfiltered), spicy black fruit, liquorice, herbs, good concentration and yet a suppleness aided by a mineral quality and fine tannins. For drinking now to 2014.

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68 Vacqueyras AC 2006 Cuvée Lopy
Domaine Le Sang des Cailloux

Grape:75% Grenache, 25% Syrah (14% alc.)

The best 15% of Sang des Cailloux’s grapes are used for this top cuvée made from 40 year old vines aged in a mix of old foudres and two to seven year old tonneaux of 450 litres. More intense and backward than the Floureto, it is very dark in colour, and will age very well. For drinking now to 2016.

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69 Gigondas AC 2006
Domaine du Grapillon d’Or

Grape:80% Grenache, 20% Syrah (14% alc.)

This comes from the windy, sun drenched hillsides of the Dentelles de Montmirail. It is a really well controlled Gigondas with hints of thyme/rosemary and game on the nose, rich black cherry fruit, spice, liquorice and mocha on the palate, with a nice freshness and well-integrated tannins. For drinking now to 2015.

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70 Gigondas AC 2006
Domaine Raspail-Ay

Grape:80% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 5% Mourvèdre (14.5% alc.)

Dominique Ay destalks 100% and then gives the wine a long cuvaison before ageing for a couple of years in foudres and demi-muids. This is an exceptional Gigondas with real depth of smoky black forest fruits, very spicy with a hint of liquorice and promising savoury tannins. For drinking now to 2015+.

* Half bottles are available

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71 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc AC 2006
Domaine Pierre André et Fille

Grape:40% Clairette, 30% Bourbolenc, 20% Roussanne, 10% Grenache (13.5% alc.)

Old vines, biodynamic viticulture and a welljudged vinification produce this excellent wine. Cuve aged it has good depth, rich fruit and a tangy freshness conveyed by limestone. For drinking now to 2016.

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72 Châteauneuf-du-Pape AC 2005
Domaine de Ferrand

Grape:95% Grenache, 5% Mourvèdre/Cinsault/Syrah (14.5% alc.)

2004 was the first vintage that Philippe aged his Châteauneuf in cuve, which helped to retain a little more fruit, freshness and structure, taking Ferrand up a notch on the quality ladder. Yields are tiny (20 hectos per hectare) from 90 year old vines. The 2005 is a superb effort exuding black fruits, liquorice and spice, with a touch of provencal herbs and influence of limestone. For drinking now to 2015+.

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73 Châteauneuf-du-Pape AC 2005
Domaine Charvin

Grape:82% Grenache, 5% Vaccarèse, 5% Mourvèdre, 8% Syrah (14.5% alc.)

The over-riding impression with the 2004 is one of harmony, a natural wine emanating from superb work in the vineyard and the least possible intervention and work on the wine back in the cave. It has spicy, chewy cherry fruit, a hint of thyme and is rich, long, but always fresh with a touch of limestone minerality on the finish. For drinking now to 2014+.

* Half bottles are available

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Southern Rhône

Since 1998 the southern Rhône has enjoyed (with the exception of 2002) a decade of very good to excellent vintages. The wines here aren’t quite so markedly different year on year as they are in the northern Rhône, thanks to factors including a climate that is reliably hot during most summers, vines and rootstock chosen to withstand intense heat, wines built around the grenache grape that regularly attains phenolic ripeness, and much deeper soils that retain an element of moisture better than the faster draining hillside vineyards of the north. In gently rolling countryside, the vines in the south are much easier to work than the steep hillside vineyards of the north and a family unit that could work just a seven hectare plot in Côte- Rôtie could manage a 20 hectare vineyard in the south. Economies of scale thus allow southern Rhône vignerons to charge less and all the wines in this section represent exceptional value.

2007 not only continues this run of fine vintages but has arguably pushed it to the point where some contend that it is the best vintage for southern Rhône reds of the last 20 years. It is certainly a vintage full of seductive charm, whose wines are accessible and captivating with ripe, luscious fruit and silky tannins. The fruit is so alluring that most of the wines will be enjoyed in their relative youth, and it is arguable whether they will age as well as vintages with more structure such as 2005.

2006 is a vintage that has given ripe, beautifully balanced wines with fine tannins, freshness and an absence of heat from excess alcohol. They have a touch more structure and density of fruit than the attractive 2004 wines, but not so much as 2005, retaining a composure and precision of fruit. In terms of quality 2006 and 2005 are very close – they just have a different character. Which is the better vintage? In the words of Laurent Charvin, “Only time will tell!”

2005 is a fine vintage whose best wines John Livingstone-Learmonth reckons will stand up against any recent vintage as far back as 1990. The 2005 wines have ripe, clear-cut fruit, are richer, denser and plumper than 2004, but the best wines hold decent acidity, and have fine, ripe tannins. There’s a sense of restrained, controlled power about many of the wines, nicely offset by both acidity and tannins that meld in easily. Everything is in balance and you don’t notice the alcohol. Such is the richness of the wines and ripeness of the tannins that even long-lived wines such as Châteauneuf will be showing well from late 2010, though they have structure for long ageing.