Good times in Ampuis (tl;dr)

It was late-Spring last year when a drinking buddy first introduced the idea of a trip to the Marché aux vins d’Ampuis. I found it all quite interesting but did not consider it seriously at first. Then came the WB thread about California winemakers’ trip to the Northern Rhône. Then my gf got a new job which was great for her except for that it meant she would not have a Winter holiday. At that moment it was basically a done deal.

We spent five+ days in the region tasting some of the best wines that I know and eating some delicious, very affordable food. My friend had hit it of several years ago with a Condrieu-based vigneron called Xavier Gerard who was kind enough to let us stay at his place. This young lad is one hell of a dude who also happens to make very competent wines (Côte-Rôtie, Condrieu, Saint-Joseph and Vin de Pays) that come at very good prices. His family also partly own a shop in Ampuis called Valferme that is a must for anyone staying nearby and looking to find fresh, high-quality ingredients that come straight from the growers/producers.

Before I type my highlights from the fair here are some general notes:

• It really is a great event. The overall quality of wine is ridiculously high (as it should considering the prices) and you have a great mix of locals and visitors. The price of entry is only 8 euros per day which allows you to taste more than you can handle
• In addition to wine tasting there is a lot of food to have at fair prices: charcuterie, cheeses, snails, oysters etc. It was cold as hell when we were visiting but the wait to get the cheese and charcuterie assortments was easily worth freezing a bit (the food stands were outside as the indoor space was packed with wine stands)
• There seemed to be a ton of Asian visitors in front of the Guigal stand at most times. It was not easy to get through to have a taste of a couple of different vintages of Château d’Ampuis. Nice wines, though not quite my thing
• As the place started to fill up the temperature became somewhat problematic for the reds, though some managed to keep their wines cooler than others
• I had very limited experience with the whites of the region before the trip and it all changed. What I took home was that in the right hands Condrieu is obviously great but also Saint-Joseph has superb potential for white wines in a more fresh kind of a style
• While many are praising the 2015’s I think I will be perfectly happy owning wines from the cooler vintages

Highlights of the fair for me:

Clusel-Roch: Amazing line-up from top to bottom. They make a powerful and spicy yet elegant and firm Condrieu and a highly drinkable Saint-Joseph but the Côte Rôties are naturally the stars. The Classique is already very good but once you get to the Viallière it is all fireworks. Not all that full-bodied yet intense, ethereal and complex; floral with very bright fruit. I don’t know if feminine really is the right word but I think it suits here. Les Grandes Places is also great but slightly more expensive and not necessarily better. There was also the 2007 version of the Classique which had developed beautifully. I loved how calm and collected Guillaume Clusel stayed the whole time while we were praising their wines. A top producer.

Gilles Barge: a very solid line-up that peaked with 2013 Côte Brune. A spicy and meaty wine, definitely of the masculine kind. Will be magnificent one day.

Jamet: I don’t know if they had more wines on the first day but we only got to taste the white Côtes du Rhône and the Côte Rôtie Fructus Voluptus. The former is a massive QPR that showcases the winemaking talent that this producer has. Very firm, bright-fruited and captivating - exemplary. Later we found a bottle of the red version in a wine shop called La Bouteillerie in Condrieu and it proved to be just as good. However the Fructus Voluptus I do not really get. Extremely fruit-forward and seemingly quite simple with a nasty price tag. No idea if the wine develops into something more special, though.

Pierre Gaillard: All around high quality but I liked the three red Saint-Josephs the most. No chance of going wrong in any case but my pick is Clos de Cuminaille, which at 20 € was one of the best values at the fair. It is not as powerful nor dark-toned a St-Jo as for example Gonon but definitely not a vin de soif either. It is a minerally and peppery wine with great freshness and grip. Polished, but in a good way. Really a producer to take note of.

Bernard Burgaud: A few stands had attractive young ladies presenting the wines. Not this one. The man himself really looks the part and the wine (yes, only one) does not disappoint. This is traditional Côte Rôtie: rustic, spicy and very meaty - a bit wild but not too much. A Cornas fan’s Côte Rôtie, if you will. It offers great value at 30 € a bottle and without any airline weight limits I would’ve bought plenty. I really preferred the 2014 over the 2013 but then this seemed to be the case at other stands as well.

Yves Cuilleron: Very nice white wines, my favorite being Condrieu Les Chaillets. Very complex with deliciously ripe fruit, appropriate power and not too much oak. Also a Condrieu Doux called Ayguets really caught my attention as there were not many sweet wines to taste. A dessert in itself with superb richness and intensity.

Yves Gangloff: This domaine was selling out fast and considering the quality and excitement of the wines who could blame? The Côte-Rôties are extremely nice but it was the Condrieu that knocked my socks off. This is for all those who say that Viognier only produces fat wines that luck structure and freshness. Layers and nuances for days with plenty of concentration, yet impeccably balanced. The pours here where the tiniest at the whole event but easily enough to get me convinced. I really look forward to popping the Condrieu in the near future.

There were many other good line-ups or at least invidual bottles but the above I found the most memorable. I am pretty sure that Stéphane Ogier’s wines were very nice as well but the woman pouring at the stand was so incredibly gorgeous that it was really hard to concentrate on what was in the glass. Another person of impressive appearance was Lionel Faury who looked like he could save the world from alien intruders if needed. I later learned that he is a national champion in a rather interesting sport that I did not know existed.

After spending a day and then some at the fair we also visited several growers. Perhaps a word or two about those later…

Nautical Jousting?

very enjoyable report to read. Thanks.

Yes!

Thank you! It has been a while since I have been this excited about wine so I am happy hear I was able to put it in words.

I have a question I was wondering: when you were in ampuis do you ever see cote rotie for less than $40 a bottle?

My experience is it is very difficult to find cote routes for really less than $60 but definitely less than $40. Even burgundy is different in that I’ve had good ones in the $20’s and have seen them for less.

Sure you do, even for under 30 €. With many very good producers the “entry-level” CR was in the 35-40 € range but as mentioned Burgaud’s very fine one was only 30 € and if I am not mistaken Gallet was selling theirs for as low as 26 €, though that one had a bit too much chili pepper for my taste.

EDIT: Having just read the Gang of Pour’s report from the fair’s 2004 edition (http://www.gangofpour.com/Marche/notes.html) it is interesting to notice how the prices have changed in 13 years.

Thanks for the great report and an introduction to a great new spectacle. I found some great youtube videos of nautical jousts. I wonder how you get started in the sport?

Probably by joining Nautical Jousting Berserkers? I am happy that you enjoyed the report!

After spending a couple of hours in Saturday and most of Sunday at the fair we were looking forward to visiting several producers and seeing more of the region on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We had sent out emails to a whole bunch of well known names, partly inspired by the last year’s famous thread here on WB. No one really rejected us but several never responded. In the end we were absolutely ecstatic about our schedule - it could not have played out much better.

On Sunday we dined at Bistrot de Serine. During the fair it is imperative to make a reservation as there are very few restaurants in Ampuis and Condrieu and this one happens to be very close to where the fair takes place. Each day after the fair both visitors and winemakers seem to crowd the downstairs space and enjoy more wine and loud discussion. The restaurant serves a 4-course menu for 32 € (if I remember correctly) which is definitely good value for money. There is a good wine list which naturally focuses on the region but also offers something from other corners of France. Downstairs one can also buy wines to go at prices that seemed very fair (two persons in our party felt the temptation of Lapierre’s Morgon magnum at 42 € too good to resist).

Monday morning I was ready to head to the boulangerie when Xavier Gerard asked if I could join him and Vincent Chansault from Domaine Gayda to go to the winery. He had received an order that should be delivered on the same day and it was only 1.5 hours before the doors at the fair would open again. I was of course game and got to help in labeling and packaging almost a palette’s worth of Saint-Joseph and Condrieu. This was a really cool and unique experience, one that I will not forget quickly.

After this little morning exercise I was dropped at Xavier’s house where our rental car’s engine was already running. While enjoying breakfast in the car I was growing more and more nervous as we were on our way to the cellars of the super producer himself, Thierry Allemand. While this was easily the number one winery for me to visit in the region I had not been very hopeful that we would get the green light. As we arrived to the cellar there was a trio of men already tasting with Mrs. Allemand so most probably we got in due to their visit happening the same time. There was also a lovely young labrador.

Thierry was not around but nevertheless we happily tasted through the trio of 2014’s with each wine being better than the one before it - as elegant as Cornas gets. My two partners in crime had never had an Allemand wine before and now their lives are changed for good. While the cellar was quite cold the quality of the wine was evident. As stated before I like the vintage very much since it seems to have produced very well-balanced and classically proportioned wines and these were no different.

We were about to make some purchases and find our way out when the backdoor opened and in walked Thierry with a bunch of men who I believe were also winemakers. Yup, suddenly there was no rush to leave. I felt like a teenage girl meeting the Backstreet Boys in the mid-90’s when Thierry Allemand shook my hand. I never understood much of the discussion between Thierry, his wife and the numerous guests as my French is mostly good for reading wine labels but the whole scene was an amazing experience and I could certainly understand the act of older bottles being opened: Chaillot from 2012, 2010 and 2005 and Reynard from 1998. It is amazing how slowly wines seem to develop in the producers’ cellars as each one was still extremely structured and youthful, not that any of them could really be considered mature yet. Certainly the 2005 Chaillot that I had in Willi’s Wine Bar in 2013 felt way more ready to go than any of those tasted here. The incredible thing about these wines is how relatively friendly they seem from the get go - they are never aggressive or angular.

After the group of winemakers left we had some alone time with Thierry and his wife. We heard some great anecdotes such as Thierry producing five vintages of white wine and selling it all to Japan just to have a merchant from Paris buying all of those that he could and importing it all back to Paris. JLL has written that Thierry is a “pretty angry man” but if that anger still exists then clearly it is directed towards someone else than fanboys like us. With us he was extremely friendly and kind, in no rush to leave for more important matters. My friend wanted to buy a magnum of the 2014 Reynard as it is his son’s birth year and Thierry was kind enough to sign the bottle. I bought a bottle of each wine just for myself so no signing was needed.

Thierry’s wife tipped us about a restaurant called Le Mangevins in the nearby Tain l’Hermitage. It turned out to be fully booked for lunch so we made a reservation for the following day and walked to the restaurant Le Quai next to the river. There the wine list did not include the numerous famous small producers but food was pretty good and service very attentive. Cave de Tain’s Saint-Joseph Esprit de Granit started off nicely but with time and air the oak got quite dominant, somewhat reminiscent of rum to me.

After lunch we were off to Verlieu-Chavanay where André Perret’s domaine is located. This time I was not nervous, merely very enthusiastic after all the praise in the aforementioned WB thread. Indeed, André is a remarkably friendly and approachable man, clearly proud of his wines but also humble at the same time. After telling a bit about the domaine and the vineyards we got to taste a whole bunch of wines from the barrel. This was a first for me and I have to say I enjoyed it a lot.

Then we sat down to taste the bottled wines and as good as the VdP Marsanne and Viognier were things really took off with Saint-Joseph blanc. It is a notably fresh, floral and lifted example of the appellation with generous yet appropriate concentration - one of the best of its kind I think. It is also great value at less than 15 € and we felt like having a bottle later that day with a risotto (merguez, lemon, fennel). What a pairing. Next we got to the three 2015 Condrieu’s and after learning about the variety’s potential from the likes of Cuilleron, Clusel-Roch, Gangloff, Barge and Gerard the day before I felt like we had finally reached the summit.

The “basic” Condrieu is beautiful, aromatic and rich, carrying its 15 % ABV well. However the two others, Clos Chanson and Chéry, are really something else, superbly complex wines that combine power, concentration and elegance (and spice!) in a completely unique way. Not heavy at all and they seem to also have a minerally dimension. To me these are kind of like really awesome dry dessert wines: so intense, nuanced and captivating that you want to forget about everything else and really just focus on the wine. When the day comes that I open a bottle I will surely cook something to accompany it but there is no doubt that after the meal I will be sitting in a comfy chair, savoring the wine until the last drop. We also tasted a well made red Saint-Joseph, but missing was the more posh Les Grisières that had just received some mighty high praise from La Revue du Vin de France and assumably was already sold out. Good for André!

André was extremely talkative and we felt like we could have stayed for a lot longer but the next guests were already waiting so we thought it best to pay for our purchases and get going. Needless to say, we also want to come back as soon as possible.

After a day of visiting two of the best producers of the region (and thus, the planet) and tasting some of the best wine there is we were feeling euphoric. Fortunately the next day would be quite nice also.

Thanks for the notes. They bring back many good memories from going from 2000-2006 for me. Sounds pretty similar, maybe more crowds now, but still fun with many good things to taste and learn about.

Great! I am sure the wines are more widely known now and prices for the best wines have risen some. Still it did not feel like everybody from everywhere had flown in to visit, though certainly they could consider a larger space in the future. Having been there now once I could easily imagine having a similar run that you had

Fabulous trip report, thanks for tapping those up.

Loved hearing about Burgaud - had a lovely 99 of his last year.

Haven’t seen his wines around much locally though.

No problem! I too had not stumbled upon Burgaud’s wines before. It seems to be a fairly small business, perhaps there is not much incentive for them to export. Quite a nice find considering the QPR anyhow.

Great information. Thanks very much!

Fantastic report, really enjoying it!

I like Burgaud … bought several vintages from 1989 to 1999 … a very traditional producer with a certain rustic edge to the wine (he makes only one cuvee). (not tasted after 1999)

My take is that his CR needs a lot of time - A LOT … e.g. 1989 and 1991 were close to mature after 20-25 years, earlier tastings were a bit lukewarm because of the quite noticable tannins … I´d say nothing for “early drinkers” … but with patience a no-brainer (they aren´t very expensive)

After an utterly amazing day of vinous adventures the next one just could not reach the same heights. Still, in a way it managed to be just as memorable.

Once again we woke up relatively early and after a proper breakfast this time we headed to the village of Mercurol. Here the destination was the domaine of the second most famous Chave of the Northern Rhône. A recurring theme with our winery visits was that these domaines did not seem to be interested in advertising their existence. As there were no signs outside to be found it required a bit of guessing to find where to park and which door to enter. Yann Chave was no different.

We found our way into the winery and after walking around a bit we found a woman working some kind of a machine. She helped us find Yann, we introduced ourselves and were taken to a spacious room with a few barrels on the floor. While this is not the smallest of small domaines - they have around 20 hectares - there seems to be space for growth still.

They produce a white Crozes that was not opened but we got to taste the regular red Crozes, an old vine (over 50 yo) single vineyard Crozes called Le Rouvre and of course the red Hermitage. The two Crozes were 2015 and the Hermitage 2014, so we are talking young wines here. The tank-aged Crozes was thus a bit reductive, very primary and fruit forward but nicely proportioned and honest, something that could be called a bistro wine. With Le Rouvre things got a bit more serious and to me way more interesting. Ageing in 600-liter barrels of first and second use has worked well here and it is a dark-toned wine with good concentration and structure. It has good freshness and drinkability, had I been traveling by the car I would have definitely grabbed several bottles.

Then came the Hermitage and we were all in agreement that this will be very delicious one day. Winemakers sometimes give very early starting drinking windows even for their most expensive wines but here I believe Yann did not advocate opening before a decade has passed and one would benefit from waiting more. The wine is of course quite primary still but it is very serious with dark-toned, tightly-wound fruit, moderate concentration and a very intense character. It is aged for 12 months in 600-liter barrels, it is definitely not an oaky wine.

At first Yann had seemed a bit reserved but as he had had some time to observe our enthusiasm he suddenly grabbed a bottle of his 2009 Hermitage and popped it open. This one demonstrated the warmth of the vintage with plenty more concentration and considerably riper fruit than on the 2014. According to Yann some critics have doubted the vintage’s longevity but he believes that the wine will be excellent eventually, it just needs a lot of time. He is probably right, but once again I found myself preferring the 2014 vintage’s poise and freshness. As we were about to start wrapping things up in walked another winemaker with a domaine in Mercurol - David Viale of Domaine du Colombier. It would have been nice to engage him in the conversation but alas, English was not his strong suit. Yann instead spoke good English and this was a very pleasant visit with good wines to taste.

Before our lunch reservation at Le Mangevins we had time for a quick stop at the most famous wine shop in Tain l’Hermitage and perhaps the whole region: Compagnie de l’Hermitage. As the Greek owner offered his help my friend responded that he still has room for one bottle of wine and he would like it to be a special one. Without any hesitation the owner presented us a bottle with the most wonderfully traditional label: Hermitage Le Gréal from Marc Sorrel. Sorrel had grabbed our attention earlier and we had actually tried to arrange a visit without ever getting a response. We were certainly aware of the wine’s reputation but 120 € is a good chunk of money so it was not quite an instant purchase for my friend. However this very merchant had several years ago introduced the greatness that is Gonon to my friend who felt like he was in debt. We decided to come back after lunch and most probably buy the bottle then.

We had expected Le Mangevins to be good but once Vincent, the man in charge, sold us very nice glasses of Saint-Péray from a producer called Julien Cecillon we were sure that it is going to be very good. The wine list is quite fantastic. The most ridiculous thing about it is surely an exhaustingly long vertical (although probably not each and every one is available anymore) of La Chapelle at VERY good prices but really there is so much more. What then caught our attention was the very wine just offered to us: Sorrel’s Le Gréal. As the price was lower than in the shop there was no need for hesitation. Vincent commented that for current drinking 2011 would be our best choice so that is what was poured into a decanter.

Holy sh!t.

It was just an unbelievable bottle of Syrah with an unparalleled purity to it. An absolutely beautiful marriage of power and elegance with something magical about its energy. This is the kind of a wine that forces you to focus solely on it and forget everything else. I hate to say it as it is as much a Syrah from the Northern Rhône that it gets but I feel like there is something Burgundian about it. It is weightless, definitely not a big wine, and it has a superb structure and an extremely long finish. I tried to make the wine last as long as possible and the last sip was easily the best.

As much as I try to express the wine’s greatness with a tasting note here, probably the most telling thing is this: at some point - I think around the last sips of the first glass - my female friend burst into tears. It really was that great a wine.

The food was also very good. With the Saint-Péray we had octopus and with the Hermitage the most tender veal I have ever tasted. The wine would not have needed it but we finished the bottle with an assortment of cheeses, all of very good quality. While all the produce was superb I would commit a terrible crime if I did not praise Vincent’s top notch service and knowledge. He certainly knows the region’s wines extremely well and is excellent at understanding a customer’s taste. On top of everything else he offered to call Marc Sorrel to try to arrange a visit for us. That was not meant to happen this time but it was decided that should we come to the region again that visit is a must.

Finally we made another lunch reservation as we would be driving to Mercurol again the next morning.

The “basic” Condrieu is beautiful, aromatic and rich, carrying its 15 % ABV well. However the two others, Clos Chanson and Chéry, are really something else, superbly complex wines that combine power, concentration and elegance (and spice!) in a completely unique way. Not heavy at all and they seem to also have a minerally dimension. To me these are kind of like really awesome dry dessert wines: so intense, nuanced and captivating that you want to forget about everything else and really just focus on the wine.

Thanks for your notes…brings back great memories of visits a long time ago…and later.

I’m curious about what you’re saying about the Condrieus? Are they sweet? off dry? If not…why a desert wine?

I love the Condrieus of Georges Vernay and have for over 20 years. To me, they are the best wine with Maine lobster…even better than Chablis. But, I don’t think of Condrieu as a dessert wine…in any sense.

Off topic, but maybe not…I’ve long been searching for a viognier wine from another region of France that, at a cheaper cost, came close to the real thing-- with almost no luck. This Xmas time I had one that changed by success rate: Viognier Pays d’Oc “St. Peyre”…I might even mistake it for someone other than Vernay’s lesser Condrieu. I bought a case. (I wonder if it’s always good…or whether te 2015 was unusual?)

Stuart,

It seems to me that he is not literally calling it a dessert wine but a wine to drink for dessert. Just my take.

Exactly, but perhaps a meditation wine would have been a more fitting expression.