Northern Rhone Flashcards
What is the main river of the Rhone Valley?
Rhone River
What is the climate of the Northern Rhone?
Moderate, Continental
What makes the best sites found in the Northern Rhone? (4)
Close to the river
Steep slopes
South-facing aspect
Positioned in lateral valleys
Why are the best sites typically found in lateral valleys off the Rhone River?
Protection from the Mistral
What are vines supported by in the Northern Rhone?
Single stakes or a teepee-like arrangement
What is the only black variety permitted in the Northern Rhone?
Syrah
What is significant about the relationship between Syrah and the Northern Rhone’s latitude?
It’s the upper limit for where Syrah can fully ripen
Aside from black fruit, what aromas might a quality Syrah exhibit?
Floral and black pepper aromas
Is oak always used in the Rhone?
No
Why was Syrah traditionally co-fermented with white grapes? (2)
To stabilise colour extraction and add aroma intensity
Almost all wines are from one of the 6 crus in the Northern Rhone. What would a wine from outside these crus be theoretically labelled as?
Cote du Rhone
What are the 6 crus of the Northern Rhone from top to bottom?
Cote Rotie Condrieu Saint-Joseph Crozes-Hermitage Hermitage Cornas
Which 3 crus are red wine only? What percentage of the wines can be white grapes and which grapes are allowed in each cru?
Cote Rotie - 20% Viognier allowed
Hermitage - 15% Marsanne/Roussanne
Cornas - 100% Syrah baby
What sets Cote Rotie reds apart from Hermitage reds?
Floral freshness and textural elegance
What does Cote Rotie loosely translate to? What feature of it’s geography might lend itself to this?
Roasted Slope
South-facing aspect
What general area of the Northern Rhone does Saint-Jospeh cover?
Western Bank of the Rhone River
Where might you find wines comparable to Hermitage reds in Saint-Joseph?
Near Tournon (across the river from Hermitage)
Aside from near Tournon, where might you find excellent quality wines in Saint-Joseph?
Just south of Condrieu
What wine-making technique is used in the production of large-volume, relatively light bodied wines from Saint-Joseph? Where might you find grapes destined for these wines?
Some Carbonic Maceration
Vineyards on the valley floor or on the plateau above the protected slopes
What aroma is typical of Saint-Joseph reds?
Pepper
What grapes are used in the production of Saint-Joseph white wines?
Marsanne and Roussanne
What grapes are in the single vineyard appellation Chateau-Grillet? Where is this and what wines are they comparable to?
Viognier
Within Condrieu and Condrieu
What cru of the Northern Rhone is the town Tournon relevant to? What are vineyards like here? What are the wines from near here comparable to?
Saint-Joseph
Terraced vineyards
Hermitage
What are some characteristics of Viognier? (body, aromas [2], acidity, alcohol)
Full bodied
Blossom and Apricot
Low acidity
High alcohol
When in the season would Viognier typically develop it’s signature aromas?
Late
When Viognier is over-handled in the winery, what character might develop?
Oily character
What does Marsanne bring to the blend?
What does Roussanne bring to the blend?
Richness and weight for Marsanne
Acidity and perfumed fruit from Rousanne
What character might develop in a Marsanne-Roussanne blend with age?
Hazelnut
What character might develop in a Marsanne-Roussanne blend with age?
Hazelnut
What is the name of the named sites that Hermitage is divided into?
Lieux-dits
What is significant about the various Lieux-dits? What was traditionally done with wines from these areas? What is increasingly common?
Varying soil types and aspects
Traditionally blended but increasingly wines are produced from single lieux-dits
Where might you find the most full-bodied examples of Syrah in the Northern Rhone?
Hermitage
In two words (hyphen allowed) describe vineyards behind Tain-l’Hermitage.
Steep
South-facing
Which are of the Northern Rhone produces the most wine by volume?
Crozes Hermitage
Where would you find lighter, high-yield wines in Crozes Hermitage? Where would you find more concentrated wines?
Lighter wines from flatter sites in the south
More concentrated from the hills in the north
Which region is by far the warmest in the Northern Rhone?
Cornas
What must wines be made from in Cornas?
100% Syrah
What are wines from Cornas comparable to?
Hermitage
What allows for the sheltering of vineyards in Cornas?
Positioning on lateral valleys
Which three regions in the Northern Rhone can make white wine?
Condrieu
St-Joseph
Crozes Hermitage
