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
