The Northern Rhone

Question 1

What is the climate of the Northern Rhone?

The climate is similar to that of Beaujolais. The temperatures are noticeably cooler than in the Southern Rhone.

Answer 1

Moderate and continental

Question 2

At this point along its course the Rhone Valley is quite narrow and steep. The vineyards are mainly planted close to the river where the best sites occupy ______1_____ with a _____2____aspect.

Answer 2

1= steep slopes
2= south-facing

Question 3

These sites often lie in lateral valleys that feed into the Rhone, valleys that also serve to protect the vines from the cold north winds known as mistral, which can easily damage them.
What methods can be taken?

Answer 3

Vines are supported either by an individual stake or by a tepee-like arrangement of stakes.

Question 4

The Northern Rhone is most closely associated with powerful red wines made from _____1____. However, although only a small amount of white wine is made it has a significant reputation thanks in large part to the popularity of _____2____ among drinkers of premium wines.

Answer 4

1=Syrah

2= Viognier

Question 5

What is the only black variety permitted in the Northern Rhone?

Answer 5

Syrah

Question 6

(Syrah)
The wines tend to be _____1_____ and have __________2________ of tannin with ____3____fruit, and sometimes ______4_____ or_____5____ aromas.

Answer 6

1=deeply coloured
2= medium to high levels
3= black
4= black pepper
5= floral

Question 7

(Syrah)
The addition of the white grapes can help to ____1_____the colour extraction from the red grapes; _____2_____ in particular can also add an extra aromatic intensity to the wines.

Answer 7

1= stabilise

2=Viognier

Question 8

_______1_____ makes full-bodied white wines with perfumed aromas of blossom and apricots, and flavours of stone fruits. The wines tend to have low acidity and high alcohol as the grapes do not develop their signature aromas until very late in the season when they have reached a very high levels of sugar ripeness.

Answer 8

Viognier

Question 9

Viognier makes _____1_____ white wines with perfumed aromas of ____2____ and ____3____, and flavours of stone fruits.

Answer 9

1= full-bodied
2=blossom
3=apricots

Question 10

(Viognier)
The wines tend to have ____1____ acidity and ____2____ alcohol as the grapes do not develop their signature aromas until very late in the season when they have reached a very high levels of sugar ripeness.

Answer 10

1= low
2= high

Question 11

(White varieties)
_____1____ and _____2____are also grown in the Northern Rhone and are usually blended together. 1 has richness and weight whereas 2 offers acidity and perfumed fruit characteristic. These wines do not have the aromatic intensity of Viognier but they can age well and develop complex ____3____aromas.

Answer 11

1= Marsanneマルサンヌ
2=Roussanneルーサンヌ
3= hazelnut

Question 12

These vineyards around the town of Ampuis are the most northerly appellation of the Rhone valley. ____1____, which translates as ‘roasted slope’, gives some idea of their exposure to the sun. Only_____2____ wines are produced, although up to 20 percent Viognier can be added.

Answer 12

1=Cote Rotie

2=red

Question 13

(Cote Rotie)
These wines are deeply coloured, ____1____, spicy and the best have an aromatic, floral freshness and textual elegance that distinguishes them from Hermitage.

Answer 13

1= full-bodied

Question 14

This is a white wine made solely from the Viognier grape. What is the name of the area?
The best wines come from low-yielding old vines, grown on steep, well-exposed, terraced vineyards.

Answer 14

Condrieuコンドリュー

Question 15

_____1____runs along the western bank of the Rhone from Condrieu コンドリューin the north to Tournonトゥルノンin the south. The vast majority of the wines here are reds made from Syrah. Some white wines are made from ____2___ and ____3____.

Answer 15

1=Saint-Josephサンジョセフ
2=Marsanne
3=Roussanne

Question 16

(Saint-Joseph)
Large volumes of relatively light-bodied wines, often incorporating elements made using_____1_______, come from more fertile, flatter sites on the valley floor and the plateau above the slopes.
These wines can be among the lightest-bodied of the Northern Rhone, expressing the ______2____ aspects of the Syrah grape.

Answer 16

1= carbonic maceration
2= pepper-perfumed

Question 17

(Saint-Joseph)サンジョセフ
This involves placing only while uncrushed bunches into cats that are then filled with CO2 to remove all the oxygen. This causes the intracellular fermentation to start. Once the level of alcohol in the grape reaches 2 percent the grape skins start to split and the grapes release their juice. The grapes are generally pressed at this stage to separate the juice from the skins. Importantly, this method extracts colour from the grapes, but little tannin, and the resulting wines are soft and full of fruit, with distinctive notes of kirsch, banana, bubble gum and cinnamon-like spice. What is this method?

Answer 17

Carbonic maceration

Question 18

What is generally the fullest-bodied of the Northern Rhone red wines and ages well?
Although up to 15 per cent of Roussanne and Marsanne may be fermented with Syrah, this is now rarely done and instead they are made into white wines.

Answer 18

Red Hermitage

Question 19

The most important appellation in terms of volume is ____1______, whose vineyards lie on mixed terrain around the hill of Hermitage.
However, overall the red wines of ____1____do not enjoy the same reputation as those from Hermitage and Côte Rotie.

Answer 19

Crozes-Hermitage

クローズエルミタージュ

Question 20

This is the most southerly of the red wine crus and is by far the warmest. The vineyards lie on the sheltered, well-exposed sun-baked south-facing slopes of the many lateral valleys that exist there. What is this?

Answer 20

Cornasコルナス

Question 21

Cornas must be made from 100 per cent _____1____. The wines are deeply coloured, full-bodied, and in a style and quality similar to Hermitage.

Answer 21

Syrah