Rhône méridional Flashcards
What is the climate of the Southern Rhône?
The climate of the Southern Rhône is Mediterranean.
This is in contrast to the Northern Rhône’s more Continental climate. The Southern Rhône has milder winters, warmer and drier summers, and is better suited to a wider array of grape varieties.
How does the topography of the Southern Rhône differ from that of the Northern Rhône?
The Southern Rhône is considerably less hilly than the Northern Rhône, and in many places quite level and flat.
What are the characteristics of the best vineyards of the Southern Rhône?
Many of the best vineyards in the Southern Rhône have stony soils which absorb the sun’s heat during the day and warm the vineyard in the evening.
In some sites, particularly in areasof Chateauneuf -du-Pape, these
stones or galets completely cover the soil surface.
What are galets?
Galets are large stones or pebbles which are characteristic of some of the best vineyard soils of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOP.
What is the Mistral?
The Mistral is a powerful, cold, dry, northwesterly wind which greatly affects the Rhône Valley and eastern portion of the Languedoc.
The Mistral can cause large-scale damage to vineyards in the Southern Rhône because the land here is flat with few slopes to protect the wines from the wind, meaning windbreaks
have to be planted.
What are some important training systems implemented in the Southern Rhône to deal with the powerful winds of the area?
Growers of Grenache use bush training or gobelet-style training for their vineyards, keeping the vines low to the ground and minimizing the risk of wind damage.
Syrah, which is more prone to wind damage, will have more supportive training systems.
How does the grape variety makeup of Southern Rhône wines differ from that of Northern Rhône wines?
In the Northern Rhône, wines will be made from only one or two grape varieties.
In the Southern Rhône, wines are often complex blends of grape varieties.
Some Southern Rhône wines can be made from more than a dozen grape varieties!
The most widely planted grape variety of the Southern Rhône is _____.
Approximately how many acres or hectares of the Rhône Valley are planted to this grape?
The warm summers mean that GRENACHE can
ripen fully here, producing wines with concentrated
spiced red fruit flavours . However, in hot years the fruit
flavours can become baked and jammy.
Nearly 122,000 acres (50,000 ha) are planted to Grenache.
Compare this to Syrah’s 33,000 acres (13,500 ha) and you can see how prominent Grenache is in the Rhône Valley.
What is the dominant white grape of the Southern Rhône?
Grenache Blanc
What are the grapes of the Southern Rhône’s G-S-M blend?
G - Grenache
S - Syrah
M - Mourvèdre
Syrah provides blends with extra colour and tannin but it can struggle in the hottest sites. Mourvedre, on the other hand, is at the northern limit of where it can ripen successfully and thrives in these locations. It is deeply coloured and very high in tannins. When it is fully ripe it
can develop dense black fruit flavours as well as gamey and meaty aromas that are highly prized by many top producers, especially in Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
Besides Syrah and Mourvèdre, which other grape can be used in red blends?
Cinsault
can also perform a supporting role in red wine blends
providing red fruit flavours rather than tannin or colour,
but it is best known as a blending partner to Grenache in
the production of fresh, fruity roses
What is the main challenge winemakers meet in producting red wines?
Winemakers must find a way of managing potentially high tannins and high alcohol levels in order to produce a balanced wine.
Techniques vary from cold pre-fermentation maceration and storage
in stainless steel to warm extractive fermentations in traditional open fermenters and maturation in large old oak vessels.
Usually winemakers will make up their blends from wines that have been fermented using different techniques. New oak is used by some, although a number of traditional producers believe it overwhelms the flavours of Grenache.
The styles of the wines vary from light- to medium-bodied, fresh, fruity wines with low tannins to highly tannic full-bodied reds with flavours of spice, meat and/or earth .
What are some important white grape varieties of the Southern Rhône that are not grown in the Northern Rhône?
Clairette, Grenache Blanc, and Bourboulenc are important grapes of the Southern Rhône that are not grown in the Northern Rhône.
Viognier, Marsanne, and Roussanne are grown in both the Southern and Northern Rhône.
The best whites are usually richly textured and full bodied, high in alcohol, with low to medium acidity and subtle fruity aromas. New oak is rarely used (usually no aok).
What are the two communal appellations of the Southern Rhône located on the right, or west, bank of the Rhône River?
Tavel and Lirac
What is the only style of wine made in Tavel AOP?
Tavel AOP is approved for dry, still, ROSE wines only.
The wines of Tavel AOP are more full-bodied than Provence rosés and are capable of longer aging due to their increased complexity.
