Rhone Valley Flashcards
Basic Stats
69% AOC / 31% IGP
80% Red, 13% Rose, 7% White
8% Organic
Production volume % of AOC
Cotes du Rhone 47% Cotes du Rhone Villages 12% Southern Rhone Crus 11% Northern Rhone Crus 6% Other Rhone AOC's 24%
Grape Varieties
Syrah Grenache Noir Mourvedre Cinsault Carignan Viognier Marsanne Roussanne Grenache Blanc Clairette Bourboulenc
Syrah
Needs careful tying and training to protect from the Mistral wind
Tied to individual poles on the steep slopes of the No. Rhone
Susceptible to mites, botrytis bunch rot, and Syrah decline which turns leaves red and graft point breaks up.
Only red grape allowed in the No. Rhone
Deep ruby, med to pronounced violet, plum, blackberry, black pepper, and herbal.
Acid and tannin range from medium to high
Syrah adds structure, fruit, and color to So. Rhone blends
Grenache Noir
High yielding
Needs a warm climate to fully ripen
Ripens late and can be impacted by autumn rains
Very suitable to bush training (upright growth)
Pruned short to contain vigor and does well on dry, low fertility soils.
Good drought resistance but prone to coulure, downy mildew, phomopsis and botrytis bunch rot and bacterial necrosis.
Can accumulate high sugar levels quickly which can be an issue in dry but is great for VDN
Major component in So. Rhone blends with Syrah, Mourvedre, and others
Ruby color, red fruit, spicy and herbal, high alcohol, low to medium tannins and low acid
Mourvedre
Late budding and late ripening and only thrives in warm to hot climates
Needs warm temps at the end of the season to fully ripen so can be unripe if summer is not hot
Not drought resistant and requires small but regular amounts of water.
Best pruned short on either cordon or bush
Produces low yields, prone to mites, leafhoppers, and sour rot.
Prone to reduction so must ensure must has oxygen
Almost always part of a blend in So. Rhone
Deep ruby, intense blackberry, blueberry, violet, and high alcohol and high firm tannin
Cinsault
Late budding
high yielding with good drought and heat resistance . Must reduce yields to produce high quality
Suffers from chlorosis on soils with excessive lime. Prone to esca, eutypa, mites, grape moths
Small part of So. Rhone blends. Light ruby, med to med plus red fruit, high alcohol and low to med tannin. Fruit flavors are most prominent in first year after production making good for early drinking reds and roses
Viognier
Early budding (frost)
Grown on trellis or poles to prevent wind damage
Yields are low and unpredictable due to poor flowering and fruit set (coulure)
Picking must be judged accurately as fruit needs to be fully ripe to have typical pronounced aromas. But left too long they lose flavor and acidity and rapidly gain sugar for unbalanced wines without flavor
Medium lemon, pronounced honeysuckle, apricot, peach; med to high alcohol, low acid
Up to 20% of viognier is allowed in some No. Rhone reds that are otherwise Syrah
Marsanne
Late budding
Vigorous and productive so yields must be kept low for high quality
Best on stony low fertility soils so does well on slopes of the No. Rhone
Prone to powdery mildew, mites, botrytis bunch rot
Medium lemon, sometimes gold, light intensity honeysuckle, lemon, apricot, oily texture, med acid, full body, med to high alcohol
In no. Rhone made as varietal or blended with Roussane. in So. Rhone in a blend
Roussanne
Late budding
Best on low fertility well drained soils
Poor wind resistance so site selection important.
Variable yields (coulure) and very prone to powdery mildew, botrytis bunch rot, mites. Harder to grow than Marsanne so less prevalent
Medium lemon, sometimes gold, med to med plus intensity pear and herbal, med to med plus acid and med to high alcohol
Similar to Marsanne but ages quicker. Normally in blend with Marsanne and other whites
Grenache Blanc
Early budding but typ not an issue because grown in warm areas
Good wind resistance
Almost exclusively in the So. rhone used in blends
Can reach high alcohol
low intensity ripe green fruit and floral, high alcohol, low acid
Clairette
Vigorous does best in low fertility dry soils
Needs to be pruned short and excess buds removed to restrict yields
Grows upright and relatively wind resistant without staking
Ripens late so prone to autumn rain
Oxidizes easily
Bourboulenc
Late ripening
Loose bunches and thick skins so resistant to botrytis bunch rot
best in warm dry locations
used in blends
Winemaking General
More traditional with a pref for concrete vats for fermentation (with some stainless and old wood) and small or large wood for maturation
Grenache is prone to oxidation and premature loss of color if exposed to too much oxygen so typ fermented and aged in concrete or stainless
Syrah is prone to reduction and so is pumped over more often and aged in oak for gentle oxidation
Some prem in No. Rhone use new french oak but this is declining
Red Cru Level Winemaking
Hand harvesting in small crates
May be destemmed, chilled and cold soaked for 1 - 3 days to extract color
Or some do whole bunch or partial destem to promote lifted aromatics
Fermentation in steel, concrete or open top wood fermenters
Cultured or ambient yeasts
Fermentation at warm temps to extract color, flavor, tannin
20 - 30 days of maceration on the skins for full extraction with punch down, pump over or rack and return
Maturation for 12 - 24 mo in large oak for Grenache, small barrelss for Syrah and Mourvedre, 20 - 30% new
Inexpensive High Volume Red Winemaking
Machine harvesting with quick processing to avoid bacterial infection
Hand picking and carbonic an option to enhance fruitiness and low tannins for early drinking
May use flash detente and thermovinification to process large volumes quickly
Culture yeasts for reliability
Mid range temps to preserve fruit
short period of maceration on skins for light tannin extraction
Aging 4 - 6 mo in stainless for early release
Rose Winemaking
Wines like Tavel have a short maceration on the skins for 12 - 48 hours then pressed.
Fermentation proceeds like a white wine
The maceration provides the depth of color, flavor intensity and light tannin
Typ aged in oak, concrete or stainless with some using small oak for more texture
White winemaking
Fermented at mid range to retain fruit
Malo sometimes avoided to retain acidity
Most aged in large old oak or stainless
Natural full body of these wines means sometimes lees stirring is avoided but some do (i.e. Chapoutier Hermitage)
Some matured in oak and some fermented in oak
Northern Rhone Growing Environment
Moderate continental climate with cold winters and warm summers
Adequate rainfall mainly in the autumn and winter
Cold Mistral blows from the north reducing threat of fungal disease and vigor leading to lower yields and higher concentration
Distance b/n north and south (of No. Rhone) is 40 miles so southern end is warmer
Most of the best are on steep slopes (sunlight, drainage, frost, wind).
These are all by hand
No. Rhone Appellations
Cote Rotie Condrieu Chateau Grillet Saint. Joseph Crozes Hermitage Hermitage Cornas Saint Peray
Cote Rotie
Most northerly
Only red wine from Syrah with up to 20% Viognier allowed - normally zero to 8%
Must be co-fermented
Vineyards on steep slopes; often terraced mostly facing east and south east for sunlight and shelter and poor soils
10,000 vines / ha to create competition and reduce yields (max 40hl/ha)
Much work by hand and erosion an issue
Terraces need repairing
Individual vines are single or double Guyot trained and tied to one or two poles (known as echalas)
Typically Selection Massale
Rootstock 3309
As little 70 ha in the 1970s but revived by Guigal with single vineyard Cote Roties (La Mouline and La Landonne) and high scores by Robert Parker.
Now 250ha and typ very good to outstanding and prem to super
Winemaking; when both grapes must be cofermented.
Emphasis on aromatics with most destemming and cold soaking (but some usage of stems getting more common)
Warm fermentation for full extraction
Natural yeasts, malo in cask,
Maturation in small 225 l barriques or large wooden casks (demi-mulds of 500 - 600l)
Pronounced but softer and less full bodied than Hermitage and Cornas
Condrieu
100% Viognier
Max 41hl/ha
Vineyards on south facing slopes; steep, low fertility, terraced
Wind and erosion
197ha surrounds the single estate 3.5ha Chateau Grillet AOC which created the reputation of Viognier early on
Most in stainless or large old oak with some using smaller for more texture and flavor
Malo may or may not be done depending on the vintage but is normally carried out
Aged on lees 10 - 12 mo often with lees stirring
Very good to outstanding and prem to super
Saint Joseph
30 miles long running from Condrieu to Cornas
Historical heart of the region is around the lieu-dit (Saint Joseph) at the souther end opposite Tain l’Hermitage
Appellation extended in 1994 and now includes some sites not on the hills producing lesser wines. Debate as to whether to restrict the AOC to hillsides only
Jean Louis Chave has done much to raise the reputation as has Domaine Gonon
90% red, max 40hl/ha
Small amounts of Marsanne and Roussanne are allowed in the blend but this is rare
Stainless and large wooden casks for fermentation and aging in large wood or occassionally barriques
Quality and price vary over a wide range from good mid to outstanding prem and super
Hermitage
Hill of Hermitage been producing since Greco-Roman times
Just above the town of Tain l’Hermitage and is named after the 12th century crusader and hermit Gaspard de Sterimberg
137ha with 1/3 of that white
On the left bank of the river as it flows south the sites are facing south
Hot dry vineyards, thin stony soils result in pronounced flavors, high tannins, longevity
Most famous climats for Syrah are at the western end of the hill with the highest temps (i.e. Meal)
Erosion a constant issue, some terracing, all manual
45hl/ha white and 40 red but these are seldom achieved
Many producers have old vines with low yields and concentration
Traditional winemaking with a proportion of stems in ripe vintages
Warm temps for max extraction of flavor and tannin
Typ 12 - 18 mo oak aging with a proportion of new is common (but not always) in med to large vessels
Whites are typ a majority Marsanne with Roussanne or put Marsanne.
Fermentation in old wood, new or old barriques or stainless
Maturation in oak with a small proportion of new or stainless
aged on lees for 10 - 12 mo
After long bottle aging can be rich creamy nutty. in rare years a vin de paille is made
Dominated by negociant houses of Chapoutier and Jaboulet with sig holdings by Cave de Tain (owns 15%) and by Jean Louis Chave.
Chapoutier champions single parcels while Chave blends
very good to outstanding and mostly super prem. Reds are some of the worlds longest lived and most structured
