FR: Northern Rhône Flashcards
most planted AOP of the Northern Rhône? largest by volume?
1 Crozes-Hermitage, 2007 ha/ 81.3hl
(Vins Rhône, 2023)
Northern Rhône AC’s for STILL WHITES only
Chateau-Grillet
Condrieu
Coteaux de Die
Northern Rhône AC’s for sparkling
Saint-Peray
Clairette de Die
Crémant de Die
methode ancestral in the Northern Rhône
Clairette de Die
* don’t forget.. min 35gl RS, made from min 75% MPG + clairette. Blanc/Rosé
Northern Rhône climate
Continental
* avg 2070 sunshine hours
* 32in rain/yr
Côte-Rôtie communes
Ampuis
Saint-Cyr-sur-Rhône
Tupins-Semons
Côte-Rôtie encépagement/assemblage
Rouge: Syrah, max 20% Viognier
Côte-Rôtie: min. planting density, rendement de base?
6000 vines/hectare
40 hl/ha max
Original 3 communes of production in Condrieu?
Condrieu
Vérin
Saint-Michel-sur-Rhône
What 4 communes were incorporated into the expanded Condrieu AC? In what year?
Limony
Chavanay
Malleval
Saint-Pierre-de-Boeuf
(1967)
Condrieu size
About 200ha
(Vins Rhône, 2023)
Cornas AOP communes
Cornas
Cornas AC plantings
150ha
Coteaux de Die AOP -grapes/styles
100% Clairette
Blanc (only)
Crozes-Hermitage - grapes/styles
WHITE: Marsanne and/or Roussanne
RED: Syrah + max 15% Marsanne/Roussanne
How do the soils of Crozes-Hermitage differ from north to south?
North: granite, similar to Hermitage
South: alluvial soils of glacial origin
Chateau-Grillet
- ownership/other properties
- Condrieu/CDR bottles
F. Pinault since ‘11, purchased from Neyret-Gachet. 3.5ha monopole in Veyrin
* Condrieu: La Carthery
* Cotes du Rhone: Pontcin
Also owns:
Chateau Latour (Pauillac)
Clos de Tart (Morey-St-Denis)
Eisele Vineyard (Napa)
Domaine d’Eugenie (Vosne-Romanee)
Châtillon-en-Diois - grapes/styles
WHITE: Chardonnay and/or Aligote
ROSÉ/RED: min 60% Gamay + Pinot, Syrah
Hermitage AOP communes
Crozes-Hermitage
Tain l’Hermitage
Larnage
Hermitage AOP - grapes/styles
WHITE: Marsanne and/or Roussanne
RED: Min. 85% Syrah w Marsanne and/or Roussanne
VIN DE PAILLE: Marsanne and/or Roussanne
Hermitage Vin de Paille
- drying requirements
- min RS/sugar
- rendement de base
Marsanne and/or Roussanne
* grapes harvest @ 170gl must weight; dry minimum 45 days to 350gl must weight
* no specified RS. Min 12.5% acquired, min 19.5% potential ABV
* rendement de base = 15hl/ha (min 6000 vines/ha planting density)
Hermitage AOP soils
West: higher concentration of granite, defined by the Massif Central. Topsoils of mica, schist, gneiss
East: characterized by Alpine glacial deposits
The Rhone River forms a valley between the Massif Central and the Alps. It used to flow on the east of the hill, but changed direction.
Saint-Joseph - grapes/styles
WHITE: Marsanne and/or Roussanne
RED: min. 90% Syrah + Marsanne/Roussanne
Saint-Joseph soils
Granite - no schist, no glacial. Little sand and limestone.
- Granite is younger/looser in the north; older and harder in the south
Saint-Péray AOP grapes/styles
- Marsanne and/or Roussanne
- Blanc, Blanc Mousseux (min 12 months elevage from date of tirage, no lees stipulation)
Are there any communes authorized to produce Cotes du Rhone-Villages in the Northern Rhone?
No
The Cotes du Rhone AOP covers what 6 departments?
Ardèche, Drôme, Gard, Vaucluse, Rhône, Loire
local name for N. Rhone’s dry stone terraces
drystone walls = cheys
terraces they create = chaillées
Clairette de Die AOP - grapes, styles, RS
- Mousseux Blanc (Méthode Traditionnelle): Clairette
* max 15gl RS, min 3.5 atm, 9m on lees - Mousseux Blanc Méthode Ancestrale: min. 75% Muscat à Petits Grains plus Clairette
* min. 35gl RS, min 3 atm, 4m on lees - Mousseux Rosé Méthode Ancestrale: min. 75% Muscat à Petits Grains plus Clairette and Gamay (max. 10%)
* min 35gl RS, min 3 atm, 4 mon on lees
Condrieu’s rendement de base
41 hl/ha (37 prior to 2011)
1st producer in Cornas to estate bottle?
Auguste Clape
Noel Verset
Cornas; 1st vintage 1943, last in 2006. Traditional - always blended lieux-dits.
- Reynard –> Allemand
- Sabarotte –> Clape, Courbis
- Chaillot –> nephew Franck Balthazar
Thierry Allemand top bottlings
- Chaillot: a younger vine cuvee, made primarily from Chaillot but includes young vines from other holdings
- Reynard: 35 to 90yr old vines, including the plot purchased from Noel Verset
- Sans Soufre: 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2011
(usually from Reynard, labels just as Cornas)
August Clape winemaking style/ bottlings
Blended sites; Never de-stemmed. Ages 22 months in 6 to 12hl foudre
- Cornas
oldest vines from top spots (Reynards, La Côte, Geynale, Tézier, Petite Côte, Les Mazards, Patou, Pied La Vigne, Chaillot, and Sabarotte) - Le Vin des Amis, VDF: Syrah, fermented in cement and aged for 2 months in foudre before bottling. From a plot that sits between Cornas and the Rhone River
- Cotes du Rhone
- Rennaissance: young vine Cornas
Villages in both Condrieu / St Joseph
Chavanay
Malleval
Saint Pierre-de-Boeuf
Clos-Florentin
Jean-Louis Chave
Located in Mauves in St. Joseph
Acquired in 2009
max elevation of Hermitage hill
344M (tops out on western side)
Guigal’s La La’s
- La Mouline (1966): Cote Blonde, 89% Syrah + 11% Viognier
- La Landonne (1978): Brune, 100% Syrah
- La Turque (1985): Brune, 93% Syrah + 7% Viognier
- soon to be… La Reynarde
42M in 100% new French oak. Mouline and Turque are destemmed, Landonne is whole bunch
What is Guigal’s 4th “La La”
La Reynarde: named for stream between Cote Blonde, Cote Brune.
* Will be pure Syrah, est 2022 1st vintage. Avl from 2026 at the earliest
Arzelle
Sanded granite topsoil; term used in Condrieu and Cote Rotie hamlets Tupins & Semons
* poor quality, low nutrient, gives more floral, red fruit wines with softer tannic structure
Wood stake vine training system used in Cote Rotie?
Echelas
Les Grandes Places
top lieux-dit in Verenay, Cote Rotie
Jean-Michel Gerin, Clusel-Roch
La Viallière
Schist soils. Verenay, Cote Rotie
Single Vineyard labels:
- Jean-Michel Gerin
- Champet
- Rene Rostaing (some years)
- Clusel-Roch
GAEC
Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions is an EU term/program BUT
in France…
Groupement Agricole d’Exploitation en Commun: a model of group farming with pooled resources, land and capital
Single vineyard bottled La Landonne
Guigal
Rostaing
Delas
Jean-Michel Gerin
La Landonne soils
Schist, rich in iron oxide
N. Rhone AC’s on the east bank
Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage
Mistral’s Northern Rhone name
La Bise
knight at the top of Hermitage
Henri Gaspard de Stérimberg
Name of hill before named Hermitage
Hill of St. Christopher
(Saint Christopher’s chapel still sits on top)
Syrah parentage
Mondeuse Blanche x Dureza
Luminescence
- producer
- vintages
- style
Guigal’s sweet Viognier. Condrieu AC
* 3 overripe vintages only: 1999, 2003, 2015
No botrytis. The 2015 was 14.8% ABV with 80g RS. It sold on release from K&L for $80/half bottle. It is sold as Condrieu AC.
Viognier’s hero in Condrieu - top bottlings?
Georges Vernay
3 main bottlings:
- Les Terrasses de l’Empire
- Les Chaillees d’ Enfer
- Coteaux du Vernon ($250ish)
Most planted white grape in the Northern Rhone
Marsanne
(Roussanne has the strongest hold in St-Joseph with 34% share of white plantings - but overall, in the Marsanne/Roussanne crus.. Marsanne has lion’s share of area)
La Doriane
Guigal; Condrieu AC
Stream between Cote Brune and Cote Blonde?
Reynard - also serves as a useful division between schist and granite terroir
Stream that separates Cote Rotie from Condrieu?
Bassenon
Cote Rotie soils
North: Schist with black and white mica, quartz. More iron, manganese
South: Granite increases. Layers of gneiss. Pale brown, sandy loose texture
Cote Rotie’s “other” Syrah
Sérine: ancient, pre-clonal variety of Syrah found in and around Cote Rotie
* smaller berried, more aromatic, lower yields, suited to high density plantings. Syrah’s adaptation to Cote Rotie’s vineyards?
* Levet, Villard are proponents. S. Ogier has a bottling dedicated to it
Top lieux-dit in Condrieu
Vernon
Chery
Colombier
Clos Bouche
Cote Bonnette
Cote Chatillon
Gore
pinkish sanded granite with quartz in it
[Beaujolais, Condrieu, Cornas, St-Joseph, Cotes Roannaise]
Domaine Jamet
Ampuis
- La Landonne (2018)
- Condrieu “Vernillon”: Cote Chatillon + Vernon (2015)
- Cote Brune
* Fructus Voluptus/early drinking wines are de-stemmed; staunch whole cluster advocate
Les Bessards
Top lieux-dit in Hermitage
* S-facing; Grands and Petits Bessards
* granite AF
Delas’ main vyd, foundation for Chave Hermitage, 1/4 of Jaboulet La Chapelle
Le Méal
top lieux-dit in Hermitage, behind Les Bessards
* core of Jaboulet’s La Chapelle, important to Chave’s Hermitage
L’Ermite
- producer/variety
- location
- soils
Chapoutier; single parcel bottling of Marsanne
Chapel of St. Christopher sits at the top
* top lieux dit, Hermitage: soils are a meeting point of Massif Central granite + glacial/Alpine deposits where the Rhone washed away the hill
Chapoutier’s top Hermitage Blanc parcel selections
L’Ermite (Marsanne)
La Meal (Marsanne)
De L’Oree (Marsanne; Les Murets)
Hermitage’s “Big Three” lieux-dit
L’Ermite
Les Bessards
Les Meal
Les Greffeaux
Hermitage top lieux-dit
JL Chave
- location
- top wine
- style
Mauves; produce Hermitage, St-Jo
* Ermitage Cuvee Cathelin: barrel selection from top vintages
* blend sites, no single vineyards
Bessards makes up the heart of the regular Hermitage. 10 - 33% new oak. Reds are de-stemmed.
Chave Hermitage Blanc
- lieux dits
- blend
l’Ermite (Marsanne)
Péléat (Marsanne)
Rocoules (Marsanne, Roussanne)
Maison Blanche (Marsanne)
* typically 85% Marsanne + Roussanne
Ermitage Cuvee Cathelin
Chave’s barrel selection, done just before bottling. Only in top vintages and only when it doesn’t compromise quality of the regular blend.
1990, 1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2009, 2010, and 2015
Domaine René Rostaing
Ampuis, Cote Rotie
- no new oak; uses stems
- Ampodium (blend), Cote Blonde, La Landonne every year
- Cote Brune, La Viailliere in some years
Chapoutier top Hermitage Rouge selections parcellaire
Le Pavillon (Bessards)
Les Meal
L’Ermite
Les Greffieux
Remember: Based in Tain l’Hermitage; world’s 1st Braille wine labels
Top Cornas lieux-dits
Les Chaillots
Les Renards
Les Mazards
La Côte
Geynale
Condrieu name origin
Coin de rieux = corner of streams
* for the 3 small streams/rivers running through the town… Bassenon, Arbuel, Le Vernon
“original” Saint-Joseph villages
- Mauves
- Tournon
- Saint-Jean-de-Muzols
- Vion
- Glun
- Lemps
Best area of production in Saint-Joseph + top lieux-dits
SOUTHERN ZONE
Historic crus of the region are in the valleys perpendicular to the Rhone; the slopes between Mauves, Lemps & Saint-Jean-de-Muzols. Granite, gneiss soils
- Les Chalaix
- Les Oliviers
- La Dardouille
- Saint-Joseph
- Sainte-Épine
- Bachasson
Raymond Trollat
Saint-Joseph’s legend, Saint Jean de Muzols
Retired in 2006
* ultra traditional. Whole cluster, large foudre
* Gonon owns his vines, releases a “Vieilles Vignes” bottling from those vines in some years
Saint-Joseph orientation
East-facing aspect
* Hermitage faces south
* Cote Rotie mostly SE
* Cornas also faces east… but has historically been warmer so pre-climate change this was less challenging
Jaboulet
-top wine/lieux dits
Hermitage based
Top wine = La Chapelle
(Bessards, Meal, Rocoules, Greffieux)
Cornas soils
Massif Central Granite - the most granitic of N. Rhône terroirs
* limestone in the north, more sand in the SW
Cornas name origin
Celtic for “burnt land”
Cornas lay of the land/climate
120 - 400M; steep slope + a plateau with many valleys, aspects, microclimates within.
* steep S-facing slopes let vines soak in the sun while sheltered from northern winds. The Mistral doesn’t have as much effect here
* southern position = a degree warmer than Cote Rotie
Warmth factors: 1) steep slopes 2) shelter from wind 3) southerly position 4) heat retaining granite
Defining feature of Saint-Peray
Montagne de Crussol: huge hill of limestone
Historical “core” villages of Crozes-Hermitage
Gervans
Mercurol
Crozes
Crozes-Hermitage soils/lay of the land
North (Gervans, Mercurol, Crozes): granite covered in loess. Steep, terraced, in the face of the Mistral
South/SE (The Chassis): flat alluvial terraces
Crozes-Hermitage river
Rhône River (east bank) + Isere River (S/SE)
Brézème
S-facing slope on the east bank of the River Ouveze (diff than the S. Rhone Ouveze)
* like a miniature Hermitage - but instead granite
* prices rivaled Hermitage in the 15th century
* Cotes du Rhone but they seem to tolerate its name on the label
Comte Rhodaniennes
massive IGP, covers 9 departments
*follows the path of the Rhone River
Worst Northern Rhone vintages 2000 to 2010
2002: BAD. Disrupted flowering, Horrid summer with rotten, unripe grapes. White wines fared better.
2008: cool grey season. Too much rain. Not as bad as 02.
Best Northern Rhone vintages 2000 - 2010
2010 is the standout. Reduced crop, long season - Oct harvest. Concentrated, ageable.
2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009 were all on the better side
Worst Northern Rhone vintages since 2010
2013: cool, rainy. Up to 40% loss. Bad for red, excellent for white.
2014: cool, wet. Good whtie wine vintage.
2021: frost, mildew, hail, big summer rains, more mildew, harvest storms. WORST. Trash for both red/white.
Best Northern Rhone vintages since 2010
2010, 2015, 2019 = BEST
2010: 5 * for red/white.
2015: Guigal said best in 55 years
2018: abundant yields
2019: Chave’s 1st VDP in 10 years
Good back-to-back: 2015 to 2020 was a solid stretch
(2016 saw some hail, 2017 was not as great for whites - yields down 50% in Condrieu)
Name for the conical harvest baskets worn as a backpack
Beneau
Name for the straw mat used in Vin de Paille production
Claie
Gore
Weathered granite that has broken down from hard rock form to crumbly rock and sandy particles - term used in Cornas
Grés
Sandstone
Kaolin in the Northern Rhone
White clay; found in Crozes-Hermitage around Larnage in the northern area. Unusual for the Northern Rhone.
Meaning of En Vrac
Goods transported in bulk. Wines that have not been bottled before being moved around
Cote Blonde
- location & soils
- 3 producers
S-facing, located south of Ampuis. Part of the greater Massif Central, thus granite terroir. Soft topsoils, more Viognier in the ground.
- Michel & Stephane Ogier La Cote-Blonde ($500ish)
- Rostaing ($250)
- Georges Vernay “Blonde du Seigneur” ($99ish)
- Guigal La Mouline ($550)
Cote Brune
- location & soils
- slope º
- 3 producers
Ampuis - faces due south.
- Schist, rich in iron, manganese (like Brunate, Moulin-a-Vent)
- 65º slope
Julien Barge ($100ish)
Dom. Jamet ($450ish)
Guigal’s La Turque, La Landonne ($550ish)
Cote Rozier
Cote Rotie Lieux-dit
- SE-facing; schist soils
- Ogier’s “Belle Hellene”, Yves Gangloff, Christopher & Patrick Bonnefond
Cote Rotie Lieux-dit - name 5
La Landonne
Chavaroche
Cote Rozier
La Viallière
Les Grandes Places
Cote Blonde, Cote Brune
Gentaz-Dervieux
Cote Rotie OG; Marius took over in 1965, retired in 1993
- Rostaing got the vines; main holding in Cote Brune
Les Grandes Places
Verenay, Cote Rotie
- Rocky, windy, SE-facing, schist
Domaine Pichat
Clusel Roch (rock, not rosh)
Jean-Michel Gerin
Name for ancient 600BC era Cote Rotie wines
Picatum - flavored with pitch or resin
Name 3 Condrieu Lieux-dits
- Coteaux du Vernon (George Vernay)
- Les Chatillon (Xavier Gerard)
- Chéry (Andre Perret)
- Chanson (Andre Perret)
- Cote Bonnette
- Les Eyguets (Jean-Michel Gerin)
Name 3 lieux-dits in St- Joseph
- Les Oliviers
- Les Chalaix
- Saint-Joseph
- Bachasson
- Sainte-Epine
Cornas elevation range
120 - 400M
Name 3 Cornas Lieux-dit
Reynard
Chaillot
La Côte
Les Mazards
Le Pigeonnier
La Geynale
Champelrose
Montagne de Crussol - where, what is it?
Saint-Peray
- huge limestone hill, reaching up to 400M
Largest landowner in Hermitage AC
Chapoutier, 34 hectares
Name 3 Hermitage lieux-dit
Les Bessards
L’Ermite
Les Grandes Vignes
Le Meal
Les Greffeaux
White dominant Hermitage Lieux-dit - name 3
- Les Roucoules
- Les Murets
- La Croix
- l’Homme
- Chante Alouette (namesake of Chapoutier bottling)
*all Marsanne dominant; Roussanne is minor in every lieu dit - only 12% of white plantings in whole AC
