Please introduce me to Rhone.

I am looking to explore Rhone a little bit, specifically Vacqueyras, Gigondas, Saint Joseph and Cornas. As I don’t really know that much about those areas, I am not really looking for expensive bottles. I would welcome any help in looking for ~$30 bottles from those areas that will help me get a sense of what those areas are about? Thanks!

Well, first, recognize and the Southern Rhone and the Northern Rhone are as different as wine regions as are Burgundy and Bordeaux, so you are asking two separate questions. It should be fairly easy to find Vacqueyras and Gigondas for ca $25-35. Others will mention names, but I might suggest going into a wine store, finding a salesperson and asking them for recommendations. Saint-Joseph will be harder to find at that price range (though doable) and Cornas, I would think, perishingly rare.

I guess my ignorance is blaring clear haha. Thanks for the tip.

For Gigondas, three names that should have reasonable availability: Dom Santa Duc; St Cosme (these two both reliable and accessible; plus Dom du Cayron (more rustic but can age brilliantly - good cellar builders)

Guigal makes good, widely distributed negociant Gigondas & St. Joseph’s at that price point. You probably don’t have to worry too much about the vintages, but 2010 is strong in both villages. Chapoutier is also another big trustworthy (to me) producer with some negociant wines at those price points, although they make a dizzying number of wines, so I’m not sure what/which is bottled up in any given year. Delas Freres might also have some wines that fit your needs. One reason I suggest the big negociants to start is that they are usually easy to find, good values, and (I think) reasonable expressions of typicity. Ian’s suggestions in G. are all super but maybe not ‘starter wines’. Vacqueryas is probably better covered by some of the smaller producers; Sang des Cailloux used to be my ‘go to’ producer there but they are not as good as they were 10-15 years ago.

Cornas might be tricky at that range. Perhaps try the other villages first, and look on threads here. That’s a kind of wine I only open after they’ve had some age, and with real geeks. My SO doesn’t like them, and I can certainly accept they are not the most popular styled wines. Inexplicably they have become fashionable among collectors, and prices have gone up a lot.

I’ll also throw out one caution - having had a dozen different Tardieu Laurents from different villages over the years I really didn’t love any of them. They’re on my personal ‘no fly’ list now. Lesson learned for purchasing too much based on reviews, without tasting first. That’s the only producer I would suggest some caution on, but that’s just for my tastes.

Good luck. If you are in NJ you have a lot of options, and shipping opens up even more.

You have some good sources there in NJ. Browsing the Garys site, here are some you could start with:

2013 Eric et Joel Durand St Joseph Coteaux
2013 Eric et Joel Durand Cornas Premices
2013 Gilles Robin Crozes Hermitage Alberic Bouvet (definitely try this one)
2014 Alain Graillot Crozes Hermitage

At Wine Library:
2013 Clos Des Papes Chateauneuf Du Pape (well above your price range, but a benchmark southern Rhone, in a slightly off vintage that will probably show better than “great” vintages, and a very fair price for this label these days)
2013 Beaucastel Chateauneuf Du Pape Rouge (same as above)
2013 Franck Balthazar Cornas Chaillot (above your price range, but perhaps worth a splurge)

Jerome - they are different regions indeed but you picked a few good ones. The North Rhone was always more remote and it’s cooler as it gets a cold wind from the mountains. It’s also a lot smaller. Pretty much the only red grape they grow there is Syrah and as far as we know, that’s where Syrah actually comes from, having been a natural cross between two local grapes.

Until fairly recently, the wines weren’t as respected as those from Bordeaux, or at least they didn’t get the same prices. Over the past fifty years though, that’s changed. In both the north and south, a lot of the wine comes from negociants, who buy grapes and make their own blends. Nothing wrong with that - it’s done all over the world and these days seems to be the model in California.

There are also producers who own estates and make wine from those. The big ones would be Chapoutier and Guigal and those are going to be the easiest to find. For the north, St Joe, Crozes-Hermitage, and Cornas are probably your best bets for price. Wines from Cote Rotie and Hermitage can be very expensive. Except for Cornas they can blend a bit of white into the Syrah. The whites are Marsanne, Viognier and Roussanne, which can also be made into wine by themselves. Most producers don’t do much blending these days though.

In France they have a term called “lieu-dit” which just means “named place”. So if there was a windmill or big tree or something, people would refer to the vineyard around it by that feature. Just as in Burgundy, the more specific you get regarding the origin of your grapes, the more pricey the wine. And as always, quality divorces from price long before you get to the top dollar wines. If you want to spend a lot of money, buy what they call the “LaLa” wines (La Landonne, etc.). But those are hundreds of dollars.

In the south they use many more grapes. The Spanish introduced Carignan, Mourvedre, and Grenache, and those tend to be what the region is most known for, particularly Grenache. The Australians have picked up the “GSM” blend - Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre, and so have people in the US and elsewhere.

Because it’s a lot bigger there’s a lot more wine around, and because it’s a lot warmer, there are all kinds of styles, from low-alcohol lean wines to big, juicy, alcoholic wines at over 15.5% alcohol. Guigal again makes wine all over the Rhone so you can pick up his wines fairly readily. But there are also a lot of other negociants who bring in wine from the region. Look on the back of the bottle and you’ll see something like European Cellars, which is a wine brought in by Eric Solomon, or Kermit Lynch or Bobby Kacher. Those guys bring in some nice wines at decent prices, some made by co-ops, others from estate-owners.

In the south, there was less of a tradition of making wines from specific vineyards using a single grape variety. In fact, Chateauneuf du Pape, perhaps the best known region of the south, was the poster-child for blended wines - many of the growers felt that the blend was the essence of CdP. But these days those traditions are falling away as buyers, especially Americans, want to buy wine based on the grape variety, particularly if they can be told it comes from a single small little hillside. So there are now a lot of those, with commensurate price tags.

As a final word, you’re clearly exploring more widely, which is a good thing IMHO. So you may want to compare similar wines from different regions. Syrah in particular, is grown all over the world these days and it can be very different, depending on where it’s from and who made it. For me, it’s far more interesting than something like Cab/Merlot or Pinot Noir for that reason - you might be interested in comparing some from South Africa, Australia, Chile, California, Washington and Austria. In both California and Australia, Syrah comes in many many styles, from big, thick, and sweet to something more lean, spicy, meaty and savory. For me, the most interesting ones have a little bit of black pepper and a slight note of meat or bacon.

Good luck.

Coudoulet Beaucastel is a great QPR wine, and can be drunk much earlier.
It’s following the big brother in quality, just lighter and more open.
I have drunk cases of the Coudoulet 1998, 2000, 2001. -And also cases of the superb Beaucastel CnDP, and they are clearly in close relation.

Good luck, Soren.

Lots of good recommendations.

For Cornas, a favorite region of mine, consider Paris Cornas 30. It’s about $30-$35. I find it glossy but must admit it is a very good transitional wine to experience and lean into this otherwise burly and sometimes rustic region. The fruit is quite pure and it has decent structure. Then try the Geynale for comparison. The former is destemmed and the latter is not.

instead of random wine recommendations about this or that wine, get a couple Rhone books like that of Remington Norman, read them, find a Rhone tasting or two at a good wine store (or have your own with friends) and then begin to narrow your focus.

Like Alan says, a private Rhone tasting.
But You still need some wines to buy/taste, and if You select the advices, from these posts, You will have plenty to choose from. Of course some are impossible to find, but still, most of them easy to bag.
Also try to get some aged ones, if price and vintage is right. -Stay away from 2002 CdP’s, -No matter the price !

Kind regards, Soren

Lots of good thoughts here. I’d just add that, if you’re sampling current releases, the northern and southern wines will be quite different. The syrah-based Northern Rhones will be more tannic and have higher acidities. The grenache-based Southern Rhones will typically be softer at a young age.

Jerome, here are a few recommendations $30 and under:

South:

Sang des Cailloux Vacqueyras
Gour de Chaule Gigondas (IMO Cayron is not very good since the children took over)
Leon (Didier) Barral Faugeres
d’Aupilhac Montpeyroux
Mas Champart Saint Chinian
Maxime Magnon all cuvees
Maxime Laurent all cuvees
Chateau des Tours Cotes du Rhone and VDP (if you can find them)

North:

Faury St. Joseph
Gerard St. Joseph
Monier St. Joseph
Becheras St. Joseph and Crozes-Hermitage
Clape Vin des Amis
Rousseau Crozes-Hermitage
Gonon VdP

If you could track several of these down for a tasting with friends, as Alan suggests, or even try them one at a time at the dinner table, you will begin to find your way around the southern and northern Rhone. In the north it is all Syrah, but in the south I recommend that you pay attention to the grapes in the blend as you may find that you have a preference for more Grenache (as you will find with Sang des Cailloux, Gour de Chaule or Chateau des Tours), Mourvedre (d’Aupilhac) or Carignan (Barral).

Have fun!

Wow, so much info to absorb. Thanks all for the input. I will have to look around for these and pick (read: drink) my way through these.

I like this idea. You will kiss a lot of frogs(i.e. buy a lot of $30 meh bottles) to find your prince if you don’t leverage your opportunities with tastings and a little reading. My $0.02

These are not bad places to start. I especially like Faury St Joseph and Gonon VdP for the North and Sang des Cailloux and Barral Faugeres in the South.

Don’t overlook the whites. Rhine whites are amazing food wines and among my favorite wines overall.

You should embrace: “the more I learn the less I know.”

To be precise: these are NOT Rhone-wines (from the Rhone valley), but defibitely good producers !

The Southern half of the family is pleased to introduce itself.