Rhone 2011 & other vintages: The North

The sunshine and warmth still holds out as I travel north, and its approaching mid October.  The 2012 crop is all in, from Hermitage to Cote Rotie, and successfully bubbling away in the cellars.  After the stress and hard work growers experienced during the summer it is fair to say they are pleased as punch with results that, a few months prior, they did not think possible.  It should be a very good vintage, though at this stage it seems the south has the edge over the north.  However there is a long way to go, a lot now depends on fermentations and elevages. 

Back again to 2011.  My first tasting in the North was with the garrulous and affable Mathieu Barret of Domaine du Coulet.  Cornas for breakfast might not be everyone’s cup of tea however Mathieu’s increasingly refined style made tasting young Cornas from barrel at 9.00 in the morning an absolute breeze.  It was a sheer pleasure to sample these wonderfully fine, precise and intense wines, they must be pretty unique in the appellation. He is a seriously talented and dynamic winemaker, his 2011s are irresistible.

Meandering further north to Tournon and Tain L’Hermitage chez Faurie, Domaine du Colombier, Pochon and Delas.  The wines here were exquisite, fruit sweetness, power but with the finesse and smoothness that seem to characterise this vintage.  Hermitage seems an excellent match for 2011.

There are some very smooth, attractive Cote Roties in 2011.  Clusel Roch’s for me were the pick of a good solid bunch. One perhaps expects rather less of St Joseph, being a large and highly variable appellation in all but the most consistent of years, though it must be said when you hit on one from a good producer its quality, value and sheer drinkability is second to none.  I found the 2011 St Joseph reds at Perret and Villard highly successful, the latter producer has refined his red winemaking style over the last three years, his ‘11s seem to be the culmination of these efforts – thoroughly moreish, seductive Syrahs that mix ripeness, elegance and a Rhone typicity.  They bear little resemblance to the bigger versions of his early years.

Many of these 2011 Northern Rhone reds gave me immense pleasure, I found them a notch above the Southern Rhone wines and considerably more consistent.  It was potentially a large crop here, as with their cousins further south, so limiting yields was important but unlike Chateauneuf and the Southern villages, alcohol levels were restrained, averaging 13 degrees natural.  The resultant wines offer ripe, fresh flavours, round textures and tremendous overall balance. They will be very enjoyable in their youth over 3-5 years after bottling, though i suspect the top wines will still be drinking well from 7-10 years after, best normally to avoid the 4-7 year hole after bottling when some vintages can go into a closed phase.  Producers compare 2011 to 2004 (a vintage drinking exceptionally well now) or 2006 but with a little less structure and acidity than the latter.  Other Northern Rhone vintages drinking well now are 2008, 2001 and 2000.  In Hermitage they recommend the 2006s already, whereas in Cote Rotie they are a little more tentative about the readiness of this very fine vintage.  

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.