Friday 2nd October - Condrieu, St Joseph and 2008 Vintage summary
Andre Perret could be domaine of the week, having produced the most impressive and consistent range of 2008s we have tasted. Few are simultaneously adept at red and white winemaking, Andre (pictured) achieves both with aplomb. The whites are superb - as racy as 2002 but with greater ripeness, none of the whites were chaptalised, both Clos Chanson and Coteau de Chery rival the Chave and Colombier whites for wine of the vintage. Grisieres will not be bottled separately this year so the regular St Joseph red cuvee has benefited enormously from its old vines, a ripe refreshing and perfectly proportioned wine with complexity of flavour.
Francois Villard makes wines in a totally different style to Perret, they are later picked and richer. His two stand out whites were the Grand Vallon and the Deponcins Condrieus, less expressive than Perret's, but full-bodied and very intense. The Vins de Pays Contours de Deponcins, was also very impressive and could look excellent value. As for the reds, Francois has been extracting less and reigning back on the new oak the last few years to great success. The two very fine, elegant Cote Roties, Gallet Blanc and Brocarde, were the pick of the reds here.
Its been a less exhausting week than anticipated, which is always a good sign. Following a great vintage is never easy and with challenging conditions in the summer of 2008, the vintage will no doubt have its detractors. This is not a homogenous year when just any old producer could have made good wine nor is its a big rich "trophy" vintage, however the important point is that there are enough good wines that will give plenty of drinking pleasure, from the serious producers. The reds will drink relatively early but the best will certainly last well into the mid term (5-7 yrs.) Less rain fell in the south than the north during the summer and, bar the northern sector of Chateauneuf where there was a hailstorm in September, the wines are a shade more consistent, however the top wines undeniably come from the granite slopes of Cornas and specific parts of the Hermitage hill. The whites are of excellent quality, particularly those of the northern rhone.
Alongside the 2008s we tasted the 2007s in bottle. I was delighted to find that these were every bit as impressive as from barrel, my tastings reconfirmed that this is a truely great, must-have, Rhone vintage.
