I am part of a group of wine enthusiasts (ten total) that have formed a tasting group. The objective of the group is to expand our palates beyond our current cellars and also expand our knowledge of different wine regions.
We have explored Loire and Burgundy and are now moving onto a Rhone tasting, which I am hosting. I thought about organizing the tasting into three flights (with a potential fourth, for fun):
Flight 1: Rhone Whites
Flight 2: Northern Rhone
Flight 3: Southern Rhone
Optional Flight 4: New World Take on Rhone
I would be interested to read your advice and opinions on flight organization, number of wines per flight, total number of bottles to purchase for the entire group tasting, food pairings. Which sub-appellations should be included in each flight? Taking it further, any specific bottle recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
The primary goal is to provide good representations of the Rhone, not necessarily the best of the region.
Flight 1: Rhone Whites
a) Southern Rhone white ie Beacuastel, Janasse
b) Northern Rhone Marsanne/Roussanne blend ie Chapoutier Les Granits, Gonon St. Joseph blanc
c) Condrieu ie Vernay Condrieu, Andre Perret Cote du Chery
Flight 2: Northern Rhone
a) St. Joseph rouge ie Chave, Gonon, Faury
b) Cote Rotie ie Levet Chavaroche, Rostaing Ampodium, Jasmin, Guigal Chateau Ampuis
c) Hermitage ie Bernard Faurie, Delas Bessards, Chapoutier Le Meal
Flight 3: Southern Rhone
a) Village wine like Rasteau, Gigaondas, Vacqeueyras
b) Traditional CDP producer ie Bonneau, Vieux Donjon, Beaucastel
c) Modern CDP ie Janasse, Clos de Papes, Usseglio
Well, it´s on one hand a price point -
on the other hand a question of availability.
From MY point of view each of the themes above would fill a whole tasting …
so it´ s necessary to limit it somehow.
I don´t think it is possible to cover the whole Rhone Valley in one sitting - better restrict to reds only, with maybe a white starter for fun (Condrieu).
For 10 people you should plan either 3 flights of 3 wines,
4 flights of three - or three flights of 4 … (depending also on the available glasses)
I personally wouldn´t like to miss a flight of mature wines … 2000 or older …
Looks like a great lineup and learning session as well. I may have to do a similar agenda with some of my wine learning friends…
For the group, I have a question. I might consider putting the Southern Rhone wines before the Northern unless there is food and/or a bit of time to clear the palate - what say you?
N Rhone Syrah is tough when it’s young IMO. I would aim to get some with age on them. This is a good article on producers.
If you do the optional flight 4 of Rhone Rangers, I’d do that flight earlier as they are generally more approachable to me. A Tribute to Grace is a nice Grenache that will drink great early. Rayas like. And for a S Rhone, I’d contrast the Grace to whatever Chateau des Tours you can get it.
+1 on all that Gerhard has said! Especially on the question of budget, availability and time to source from various sources. Most of these AOCs only in themselves have a vast array of producers and variation of styles. Like all wine-growing regions for sure, but I would argue a bit more perhaps so without loosing purpose of the tasting I would argue narrow it at least a little bit.
Depending on the groups palates, maybe a dedicated Northern- or Southern Rhône tasting? Personally my palate has gone a bit Châteauneuf-tired (another topic in itself) but I would love to attend a serious Northen Rhône tasting. Some suggestions could be:
Starter - White
A Condrieu such as Guigal’s fantastic ‘La Doriane’ or if you want a conversation starter do a Château Grillet a sub-appellation of Condrieu and one of France smallest. It also has a fun history about it that not everyone has heard. Dard & Ribo, outside of making good wines overall make a mean Crozes-Hermitage Blanc (100% Rousanne). Or lastly, if you’re a bit more of a spender: Jaboulet’s Le Chevalier de Sterimberg, Chapoutier’s Chante-Alouette, Guigal’s Ex Voto or Chave’s Hermitage Blanc (as are all the beforementioned).
First flight - ‘Lower’ tier reds
This might a bit subjective but I would do C-H first in this flight, some might argue they have more heft than the St Josephs but I personally find the latter a bit more exciting and easier to find higher quality.
Crozes-Hermitage Cuvée Albéric Bouvet from Domaine Gilles Robin I usually find to be quite typical of the AOC, smoked meat and black pepper etc. Or one from Alain Graillot, depending on availability Guigal’s basic Crozes or maybe Delas’ Les Launes in a good vintage. One of these could perhaps be contrasted with Jaboulet’s Domaine de Thalabert C-H old vines, selected plots of its namesake estate and find it to be a bit more serious, modern interpretation of C-H.
St. Joseph
Exciting AOC I think, much coming up lately for me. Here you could start with Domaine Gonon’s St Joseph, Guigal’s generic St Joseph, Domaine de Lises St Joseph Equis (Alain Graillot’s son but different wines) or Domaine Emmanuel Darnaud’s St Joseph from the talented winemaker by the same name, trained with the Hermitage perfectionist Bernard Faurie and might be mistaken but think the StJ plots are Faurie’s old ones. Very small (tasty) production.
For a more natural wine interpretation of StJ check out Dard & Ribo’s St Joseph or Domaine Romaneaux-Destezet/Hervé Souhaut’s single vineyard StJ Saint-Épine, the latter particularly exciting, vineyard high up the slopes, 100+ year old vines and with low yields, great stuff.
More well-known names such as Guigal who recently made more investments in StJ have the epic single vineyard wines such as the Lieu-dit and Vignes de l’Hospice (which I think is from their new holdings), both epic wines that cannot be missed. Chapoutier also makes a single vineyard StJ - Les Granits - have not made the same mark on me but still one of the big names. Pierre Gaillard’s Les Pierres is also a top selection StJ. Or other famous producers such the two Yves Cuilleron and Gangloff.
Second flight - Upper tier reds
Not necessarily in this order.
Cornas
Producers such as Alain Voge could give you the possibility of doing a basic Cornas such as the Les Chailles and compare it against his older vine single parcel Les Vieilles Fontaines. The same could be done with arguably the even better producer Thierry Allemand with his two cuvées Les Chaillots and Reynard. Or with Auguste Clape’s Cornas Renaissance and his Cornas, Jean-Luc Colombo’s Les Méjeans or Terres Brulées against his single vineyards Les Ruchets, La Louvée or Vallon de L’Aigle. Or if your able to acquire from the finite sources of a master of Cornas: Noël Verset.
Thinking that I’ve exceeded a courteous call for help I’ll leave the most famous Côte Rôtie and Hermitage to the other berserkers who are more well-versed in these. Needless to say with producers like Gentaz, Gangloff, Guigal, Gerin, Levet, Jamet, Jasmin, Stéphan, Rostaing and others in Côte Rôtie. And Chave, Chapoutier, Faurie, Sorrel, Jaboulet etc, I am sure there will be no problem at finding quality juice!
All the above is said somewhat in exclusion of factors such as price, availability and drinkability, many of them are tough nuts to crack for a variety of reasons but hope there something to extract from this Rhône-an rant!
jeff, grenache-based southern rhones are more food-friendly than syrah-based northern rhones with most “american” foods and flavors. i see you’re in chicago, so if you serve big flavors, sauces and spices, CdP and southern villages will bring out these big flavors. IMHO
northern rhones go with grilled steaks and dishes with simple preparation, as the minerality of the north will complement those flavors. IMHO
southern rhones can also hold up to some desserts. nothern rhone not so much.
christofer’s producer list is good. don’t skimp on the whites. the La Doriane and Chave blanc can be game changers. and try not to succumb to youth in the reds, especially in the north, as was noted previously by bmckenney.
With few exceptions, I wouldn’t mix north and south and wouldn’t mix reds and whites.
Pick a few wines from some of the N. Rhone regions or pick a producer who makes wine in Cote Rotie, Hermitage, Cornas, St. Joe, Crozes-Hermitage. If you can, find a Syrah from somewhere like Pic St. Loup. There are a few producers who feel that they make Syrah as good as anything from the north.
Alternatively, pick a few and get different vintages of the same wine- say 1999, 2005, 2009, etc.
You’ll get a better understanding of the region by doing more focused comparisons. Tasting a few whites from here and there and a few reds from here and there won’t really give you much information other than those specific wines, but if you focus more narrowly, you can get more information. I’ve done plenty of those tastings, say Cote Rotie vs Hermitage for example, and it’s an interesting way to learn.
Dragging this thread up researching Dard & Ribo St Joseph Rouge (Les Champs and Pitrou) - any experience with these particular wines? I see plenty of props to Dard & Ribo, but I’ve never even seen one. $46.99 for either, 2014 vintage - recommendations?
I am with Gerhard on this and think you and your friends will learn much more (and get to drink more fabulous Rhone wines!) if you break this up into three tastings. I remember when I was doing my WSET diploma and the in-class Rhone tasting was grossly inadequate. My tasting group did three tastings and ended up learning a great deal: Rhone Whites; Southern Rhone Reds; Northern Rhone Reds. To illustrate the benefits, consider having the Chapoutier Les Granits Blanc is 100% Marsanne, so side-by-side with the Dard & Ribo Crozes Blanc (100% Roussanne) and a Marsanne-Roussanne blend like the Gonon. No single wine can cover that. As another example with the Whites, Chateau Grillet and Condrieu are both Viogniers, but even though the Chateau Grillet AOC is encircled by the Condrieu AOC these are completely different expressions of Viognier due to terroir and winemaking. Another interesting angle is the fact that the Gigondas and Rasteau AOCs are former CdR Villages that got elevated, but the AOC rules restricted the types and amounts of varietals. Perhaps another interesting comparison is have a good CdR Village side-by-side with one of them. If you want to break it up, let us know. A very enlightened group here.
Historically I would have sequenced the tasting that way as well, but if the Southern Rhones are more recent vintages of the more modern producers, especially anything Cambie touches, I would put them after Northern Rhones. These wines and their alcohol content are overwhelming for me with a clean, fresh palate.
They’re an interesting Domaine. All sans soufre I believe. Pretty traditional but a lot of that came about accidently. I think there’s quite a bit of bottle variation due to their Natural wine-making style. They also make a Crozes-Hermitage and Hermitage. It’s’ hard to comment on their lieux dits because I think they’re the only ones who make them, although Les Champs may be vinified singly by someone else I can’t remember.
They’re interesting, but at the price points I’m buying Juge, Levet or Faury. And also Faurie.
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