Our October tastings took us to the Rhone Valley, home to some VERY BIG WINES. A bit daunting for Fliss, who’s a bit of an alcohol wimp, but Tim was out of the country.
I felt it was necessary to remind people about the high alcohol levels, and to approach with caution, but on all three evenings everyone got stuck in, and it was very enjoyable.
We kicked off with a couple of Northern Rhone whites, both made from Viognier. At Teddington our ‘basic’ wine was actually from the Ardêche, but showed the characteristics of the variety well – peachy, rounded, hints of florality. At Richmond the IGP Collines Rhodaniennes was a more complex wine with a hint of oak, while the Condrieus we tasted showed all the class of this marvellous appellation – perfect balance, complex fruit, long finish. I always think of Viognier as a great variety to encourage red wine lovers to start loving white, its relatively low acidity and full body is a good stepping stone. All these wines proved my theory!
A somewhat cheaper, but still good quality white from the Southern Rhone showed the contrast between the North and South very well – lots of grape varieties (Bourboulenc, Grenache Blanc, Ugni Blanc, Clairette), lively fruit, spice and fresh acidity – great summer drinking wine.
At Richmond I slipped in a rosé from Tavel, which on Monday we had with our starter (heritage carrots with blue cheese, we’d had heritage tomatoes the previous night).
Then we hit the reds. Over the tastings I refined my approach, and I think where I ended up made a lot of sense. We kicked off with a Côtes du Rhône Villages Séguret, which amply demonstrated the character of Southern Rhone wines (lots or red fruit, fairly high in alcohol, but in great balance with approachable tannins and some interesting flavours of herbs and spices) and enabled me to talk about the hierachy of appellations in the region.
We then compared wines from two appellations: a Syrah/Grenache field blend from Vinsobres, which is one of the most northerly appellations in the Southern Rhone, where Syrah still predominates, and a Lirac, from the ‘heart’ of the Côtes, across the river from Châteauneuf du Pape. These both demonstrated the difference in terroir (Vinsobres more hilly, more exposed to the Mistral so grapes protect themselves with some additional tannins, while Lirac is flatter, a bit warmer and less windy), and in winemaking – the Vinsobres had a lot of it (hand picked grapes, time in oak), while the Lirac was probably made from higher yields so less concentrated grapes, which had only spent time in concrete tanks during their time in the winery. Pricing reflected the differences, but preferences were fairly evenly split.
Our final comparison was between North and South. A Côte Rôtie versus a Châteauneuf du Pape, both brilliant examples of their appellations, and really good summary of the differences between these regions, despite their identical ages, alcohol levels (15%) and similar price points. The former entirely made from Syrah, with violets, dark fruits, black pepper spice, hints of leather and robust tannins, the latter from a typical blend (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault) – more approachable with great complexity and more easy going tannins. I was expecting to prefer the Côte Rôtie but on every night I enjoyed the Châteauneuf more. Maybe older vintage of the Côte Rôtie would have been a fairer comparison but would have blown the budget out of the water.
I was delighted with how well all the wines showed. Mia did a great job on catering at Teddington (lasagne then cheese), while the beef main course at the Britannia was a fabulous accompaniment to the wines. From the feedback I think we all learnt a bit and enjoyed a lot. The right balance.
Find out the details of what we drank on our Wines we have tasted page.
