Rhone 2009 - The Septentrional Slog

After two days of Meridional marathon in the Southern Rhone, I embarked on an even more gruelling two days in the Septentrional North. I have visited 7 producers both yesterday and today(thursday)taking in the best of Cornas, Crozes, St Joseph, Hermitage, Condrieu, Cote Rotie and that well known Vin de Pays, Seyssuel! I have seen all of our regulars such as Chave, Domaine du Coulet, Domaine du Colombier, Perret and Rostaing to name a few, as well as keeping an eye on the regions young (winemaking!) talents, people such as Semaska, PJ Villa and Stephane Ogier. That makes 26 producers in 4 days. Now, before you all sarcastically get your violins out, actually this has not been such a tall order. Glancing at my schedule upon arriving late into Marseille on Sunday, I thought I had gone perhaps a touch o.t.t., but in fact the style and quality of this vintage has really made it feel rather effortless.

Whilst 09 is a small vintage in the south because of the very few bunches of Grenache that had formed on the vines, in the north it is a vintage of quality and quantity like 1999. Some producers in Cornas prefer the elegance of 08 to the richness of 09, remember that this appellation's sheer, exposed and well-drained slopes produced very good 2008s. 2009s in Cornas are enormously rich and intense, some top the charts at 15 degrees alcohol, too much wine for some people perhaps, but I am sure they will earn great critical acclaim in some quarters. Domaine du Coulet have made an incredible Gore Cuvee this year. St Joseph is particularly high performing, i think, perhaps some of the most balanced wines of the vintage, Perret's Grisieres is sublime and Villard has made the vintage of his life, in my opinion. Rene Rostaing was ebullient and rightly so, all three of his Cuvees were exemplary. Clusel Roch will be releasing a very serious Grandes Places aswell as a separate bottling of, for the first time, La Viaillere which that i thought remarkable and one of my personal favourites of the trip.

For anyone who remembers and still has examples of that great 1999 Northern Rhone vintage, I tasted a Grandes Places 99 with Brigitte Roch. On the basis of this 99s are every bit as wonderful as they were on release. Really impressive, one of the greats, but worth holding onto for at least another 5 - 10 years, it is still so young.

Hew's Views - The Final Roundup

All the 2009s have now been released; so it's verdict time. How has the market reacted to the Bordelaise's new pricing strategy? What should we buy from 2009? Our Chairman, Hew Blair has watched the campaign unfold and now gives his judgement in this, the final instalment for the Bordeaux 2009 campaign of Hew's views.

2009 - High Spirits in Chateauneuf du Pape

Monday and Tuesday have gone remarkably quickly and smoothly despite the crammed schedule. Chateauneuf is starting to feel like my second home now, my visits have inlcuded pierre usseglio, pegau, barroche, versino, vieux telegraphe, rayas, beaucastel, cros de la mure, clos des cazaux cayron, and clos des papes. Phew, thats a lot of grenache! Everyone seems really very content with their 09s if a bit rushed because 2010 is behind schedule and there is lots to do in the vineyard. The 09 wines our gorgeously lush open and fruity, even the usually more reductive styles are showing well. This is clearly a very good vintage,different to 2007 less black fruit and in many cases less alcohol, which was a pleasant surprise, though still quite high nonetheless, domaines like usseglio have produced wine at about 14.5 alc versus 15+ in 07.No doubt some 09s will be much higher than this, however. The profile of the 09s are rich incredibly smooth more red fruit perhaps than the black fruit of 07. There is definitely tannic power but this is hidden by glycerol and fruit sweetness. However tannins and minerality do seem to give the impression of freshness, for the best wines are certainly not heavy or sickly. Many growers, namely Vincent Avril of Clos des Papes, consider it as in between 2007 and 2005 in style, the sweetness of the former and the structure of the latter without being as rigid or austere as 2005. Mourvedre, Counoise and the cooler grenache zones have done particularly well

A word on 08s. Dismissing this as another 02 is plainly wrong. My tastings in bottle of the southern rhones over the last two days reaffirmed my barrel tastings. Ok there will have been some bad wines in this challenging vintage, but it is surprising how lovely the wines from the good growers are. Ripe, floral, refreshing acids and decent mid-weight smooth structures. Not one of the greats but as good as very nice vintages such as 1999 (or better for some like Vincent Avril)