Book Review:
Wines of the Rhone Valley
by Robert M Parker Jr
1997, 2nd edition
Based on this thread Books on N. Rhone? - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers I ended up buying this old Parker book on the Rhone, which I’d somehow never read. It was cheap ($6 on Amazon for an author signed copy) and arrived quickly, although I didn’t get around to reading it until last week. In summary, it’s a good book, but is strongly opinionated compared to his other works, and much of the discussion on producers is now dated, or not so relevant, as wines have become unobtainium in the decades since. One overall editing note: the book is mostly assembled out of Parker’s Wine Advocate work, with some estates getting fresh tasting notes updates and overviews, and a few estates included only for historical interest since they are now defunct. So there can be a disjointed feel for someone who was never familiar with how the newsletter WA was structured - all of Chapoutier’s huge lineup would have been covered in a section on his firm. But in the book its scattered all over, and sometimes the references within sections/notes etc. don’t tie back, or just generically refer readers back to other sections for estate practices. So a lot of content is recycled, and maybe there was a heroic job editing it just to get it to this state, but it still feels a touch Frankensteiny to this reader.
The book starts with a standard 25ish page introduction on the authors regional overview, his approach to ratings and what he sees his role in the ecosystem. Then it dives into the Northern Rhone, which occupy the next 250+ pages. The proportions of content are 60 pages on Cote Rotie, 30 on Condrieu, 60 on Hermitage, 30 on Cornas, 30 on Crozes, and 30 on St Joseph, with some cruel snippets on St Peray. I enjoy Condrieu but it seems like a lot of detail on a niche that may not be so germane to most oenophiles. Maybe now a little more emphasis on Crozes/St Joe would be fair, but maybe back then it got much less attention. RMP doesn’t seem to touch on the little wines of the NoRho (IGP Collines Rhodaniennes, Vin de France etc.) that some are bottling up in addition to their well known AOC.
The next section of the book - at 350 pages - is on the Southern Rhone. Given production volumes (I think NoRho is 10% of the valley’s output) it’s clear that Parker is focusing attention on the smaller region versus the bigger south. Content approximations: Vacqueryas gets 20 pgs, CNDP 200 pgs, Gigondas 50 pgs, Lirac 20 pgs, Cotes du Rhones & Villages 50 pgs, with a few pages on esoteric wines. In the CdR section there is surprising depth on Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, which is a great dessert wine, but not seen all that much stateside. The distribution of the content seems ok, but its not allocated awesomely within certain silos. Lots of TN’s on Rayas in the CNDP section are nice to read…but maybe a few less of those and more coverage of other (available) estates might have been an improvement (for me). And within the universe of CdR - which seems to be a richer hunting ground today - than it might have been 20+ years ago there’s deep dives on hard to find estates like Gramenon. At least Coudulet de Beaucastel gets some props here, as it should.
There’s a lot of pages where the content is merely contact info for estates, as well as acreage/cepage/production etc. So the book reads much faster than its pages (close to 700) might suggest. This is unlike JLL’s books which tend to be denser, and less filled with what I might consider thin value Googleable/Wikipedia type of info. Of course a generation ago, this was helpful, so this critique is not fair in the context of those times.
Unlike other Parker books, he touches much more upon his personal cellar, and purchases, than I can recall. He also shares info that is really good, and likely not so googleable. Examples include why Jaboulet’s les Cedres CNDP was so good way back when: it was the same grapes that is now in La Nerthe’s Cuvee des Cadettes before they bottled it up separately. Or which vineyards Tardieu Laurents was putting in some of their bottlings. The insights into the negociant bottling was pretty neat, and seems to explain why - as more growers estate bottle - so many old reliable branded AOC wines don’t seem to be as good today as they once were. There is also some coverage of the bigger/better coop’s and their output, even if those may be less likely to be found in the US other than at Total Wine or a direct importer like K&L. Parker notes that some Rhone co-ops are quite professional and their bottlings can be better than indifferent estates, but again, other than a few high profile names, wine enthusiasts tend to biased against co-ops.
It’s hard to know what to make of his drinking windows. Clearly he has more experience with these estates than other professionals (there’s lot of times when he mentions some wine and says he has tasted everything between 78-95 and only 90 can be recommended) but in the end those projections come down to personal preferences. So all the suggestions to ‘drink up by age six’ should be considered with one’s own tasting experiences. And some entire categories I don’t like at all (e.g. white CNDP). The vintage descriptions, which generally go back to 78, with occasional mentions of much older years are also nice, even if mostly academic for today’s consumer (given that Rhones don’t have Bordeaux’s lifeline ex Cornas/Hermitage, and that old ones are less available stateside/auction). In some AOC sections, he groups producers into style categories like Traditionalists, Modernists, and Contrarians. That’s actually pretty helpful, and the groupings mostly make sense, even today.
Of course, with the fullness of time, its interesting to look at how some of the estates he championed in that era, have turned out. I remember putting away some CNDP’s he favored - Autard, Janasse, etc. - and upon pulling corks later not really getting what the (initial) fuss was about. While others that he (and other critics) loved like VT, VD, Charvin have developed as well as hoped for. Maybe the latter 3 weren’t big secrets then, and didn’t need trumpeters anyways. For some estates, in their section he exhorts them to consider tete du cuvees, which I don’t really like as a general business/consumer practice. I would just generally prefer that the best vats/vineyards go into a producers normal base blend, improving that - rather than going for a high scoring/high priced 100 case cuvee.
The last section of book covers travel in the region - advantages to certain hotel locations, great restaurants and wine lists there, and how to organize visits/days. Of course, some of that may not be relevant in our locked down 2020 world, and many establishments may have been closed long ago, but its a good starting point. A few producers are noted that affiliated restaurant get what wine they have for sale, after their private clients get their fill. If I ever got to visit the region, those would be items I’d want to look for - things I would not be able to try elsewhere. I quite liked the travel section, even its not something on my radar horizon.
So bottom line: dated book in a tone that not all with love…but still an enjoyable read for fans of the Rhone, even if they have read the prior (weaker) edition. The info on negociants and their sources (scattered about the book) seems differentiated; I don’t recall it from his WA newsletters of that era. Copies of the book are cheap, and if space isn’t an issue, it’s worth a spot on the bookshelf.