How do you measure the greatness of any given wine appellation? One way might be to count the number of outstanding producers.

If using this method in the Southern Rhône, Cairanne would come out looking particularly strong.

Cairanne was promoted to Cru status in 2016, and there was never any doubt that it deserved this commendation. Ten years on, its wines are even better.

The Cairanne style is all about balance, elegance and consistency. Its reds have the characteristic generosity of the east bank, but more restrained than punchier appellations such as Rasteau and Châteauneuf.

Its whites too inhabit a comfortable middle ground. They have affable confidence rather than oaky swagger; they are proudly Southern Rhône, and with drinkability.

Both colours are approachable on release, and both can develop beguiling complexity with a decade (or more) in bottle.

And they’re not expensive; on the contrary, Cairanne offers some of the best value drinking in the Rhône Valley.

As in all appellations, the producer is what counts. Below is a list of some personal favourites.

If you can’t find them, there are countless other excellent producers to choose from, including Domaine Brusset, Domaine les Hautes Cances, Domaine Rabasse Charavin and La Cave de Cairanne.

Domaine Alary

The Alary family settled in Cairanne in 1692, and has been cultivating land here ever since.

It was Denis Alary who helped spearhead the passage to Cru in 2016; he has since passed the baton to his son Jean-Etienne.

They make numerous Cairanne cuvées, all with a unique raison d’être, and they excel at both white and red. Their white Estévenas is deep and rich but not heavy.

Of their reds, their Jean de Verde is the essence of Cairanne Grenache, and their red Estévenas is highly distinctive, brimming with mocha and black olive, thanks to its old vine Syrah.

Their 2016 Estévenas red was drinking brilliantly this year, with another decade ahead of it.

Domaine Richaud

If Domaine Alary embodies classical Cairanne, then Richaud personifies its wild side.

Richaud might not be the most consistently reliable estate in the appellation, but when the wines are on form, they’re unbeatable.

Don’t let the simple labels fool you: these can be highly complex wines.

Marcel Richaud has largely passed on the estate to his children Thomas and Claire now. They work organically, add nothing to their wines, or take anything away; yields are very low.

Even their cuvée classique is fresh, zesty and exuberant; their 50% Mourvèdre L’Ebresecade can be phenomenal; powerful and concentrated but crackling with energy. Their white is also delicious, rich or fresh, as the vintage dictates.

Les Chemins de Sève

What Loïc Massart has achieved since establishing his estate in 2013 is nothing short of extraordinary.

In a matter of 13 years, Les Chemins de Sève is among the top names of the appellation. The winery might be new but their vines are up to 85 years old.

He makes two red Cairannes. Métamorphose is 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah, aged in concrete for a round, approachable, juicy but structured style.

Apanage is 50/50 Grenache/Syrah, aged in recent barrels for a darker, more intense expression.

His white Cairanne Opale (40% Roussanne, 30% Clairette, 30% Grenache Blanc) is also highly accomplished. His 2014 Opale and 2015 Apanage, some of his first attempts, were still showing very well in 2026.

Domaine des Amadieu

Yves-Jean Houser, took over this 7ha estate in 2007 and promptly converted it to biodynamics.

His style is uncompromising – authentic wines with no make-up that offer a clear-eyed vision of this terroir.

His whites are broad, rich, supported by mineral freshness rather than acidity. I prefer his vibrant and invigorating reds.

Garrigues is juicily delicious, Vieilles Vignes more structured, made for the dinner table. His first vintage, 2007, was still holding up well in 2026, complex and compelling.

Clos Romane

Clos Romane is a fourth generation organic family estate in the heart of the village, their 30ha of vineyards are dotted around various soils and appellations.

Their wines have been improving from year to year and are now reliably excellent. The style here is all about richness and power, in both colours.

Domaine A. Berthet-Rayne

The Berthet-Rayne family has been making wine in Cairanne since 1880. Current owner André is the fourth generation, his daughter Alexandra joined the estate in 2017.

Their reds are very good, especially their Castel Mireio, which is particularly refined.

A generous 20% of their estate is planted with whites however, a house speciality; their Castel Mireio white is often among the best in the appellation.

Domaine Oratoire Saint-Martin

There were two branches of the Alary family who were instrumental in the history of wine in Cairanne. Domaine Alary is home to one; Domaine Oratoire Saint-Martin was, until recently, home to the other.

This latter estate was run by tenth generation brothers Frédéric and François Alary until 2020, when they sold the estate to the Abeille-Fabre family of Château Mont-Redon in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

The estate is still being run biodynamically. Red wines are medium-bodied in style and can be enjoyable in good vintages.

Their strength here is their whites (which was always the case) which, in vintages like 2024, can be among the finest in the Southern Rhône.

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Occasionally people ask me if I can recommend a light Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

It’s a bit like asking a zookeeper if he has any slim hippos or short-necked giraffes.

What I usually do in this situation is direct them towards wines from naturally slimmer and more athletic nearby appellations.

After all, the very best Châteauneufs tend to be those that embrace its natural plus-size magnificence.

But thanks to the appellation’s liberal rulebook and the diversity of its soils, Châteauneuf can be a broad church.

And occasionally I do come across excellent wines that, while not exactly light, are at the lighter end of the spectrum.

Wines with drinkability and a lightness of touch, but – crucially – still taste and act like Châteauneuf.

One estate that embodies this style is Domaine Juliette Avril.

The outer fringes

Stephan Brun-Avril has an infectious energy, a broad smile and is never short of something to say.

He finds it hard to concentrate but has plenty of ideas. ‘I’m like an upside-down tree,’ he says, ‘with roots that go all over the place up in the sky.’

He says his staff help keep him grounded.

I asked if we could visit the vineyards – of course, he says. He proceeded to jump-start a (long-)retired French army Jeep, and in we hopped.

As we rumbled through the pebbly vineyards, Stephan says: ‘I’m not a typical winemaker – I’m not from Châteauneuf.’

Many top Châteauneuf winemakers went to the village school and all grew up together. But not Stephan.

He’s half Italian, and grew up in Italy. It was only after completing his studies, that he travelled to France and joined the family estate.

It can’t be easy moving from a foreign country to this tight-knit community of 2,500 people and trying to fit in.

Perhaps that’s one reason Stephan is happy to make wines that don’t follow the local template.

New estate, ancient roots

The Avril name, however, is deeply embedded here – Stephan says that members of the Avril family lived in Châteauneuf before the French Revolution (1789–1799).

Different branches of the family have long been part of the winemaking scene; Maurice Avril owned Domaine le Père Caler (now closed), and Vincent Avril owns Clos des Papes.

In 1982, local landholder Jean Avril bequeathed 20ha of Châteauneuf vineyards to his daughter Juliette Avril, and in doing so, she established her own estate.

Juliette’s daughter, Marie Lucille Brun, started working at the estate in 1988. Marie Lucille was joined by her son Stephan in 2002.

Their holdings have grown since Stephan arrived; he bought land in Cairanne, Plan de Dieu and Côtes du Rhône. But the family’s heart, and winery, remains in Châteauneuf.

‘There are really two climates in Châteauneuf-du-Pape,’ says Stephan, ‘south and north.’

They have holdings in both – half in the hot, dry lands of lieux-dits Les Gallimardes, Les Serres and Les Plagnes to the south; the other half in the higher, slightly fresher terroirs of lieux-dits of Farguerol, Coteau de l’Ange and Pied de Baud to the north.

Towards the light

In other hands, these parts of Châteauneuf make powerful wines. But Stephan creates a style that is less potent and muscular. He achieves it through a combination of methods.

Firstly, he picks relatively early to preserve acidity and keep alcohol levels in check.

Secondly, he keeps maceration times short (around 12 days) in order to preserve freshness and not to extract too much tannin. He doesn’t age the wines for very long, and he only uses larger barrels.

Thirdly, he’s beginning to coferment his Grenache with a little Cinsault and Counoise.

‘We use them for juice,’ he says, and ‘they help to temper the Grenache and naturally reduce the alcohol’.

‘What made our reputation is balance,’ he says, and he aims to make a wine that he enjoys drinking himself.

Light, but authentic

Successfully producing a lighter style of Châteauneuf isn’t easy. It’s a terroir that naturally wants to make generous, ageworthy bottles.

Picking early is a dangerous game; if your grapes aren’t fully ripe, you risk making something puny or unconvincing – a toothless crocodile or a three-legged cheetah.

But Stephan treads carefully, managing to capture a high-toned floral expression of Grenache without sacrificing the gravitas of a genuine Châteauneuf.

Most Châteauneufs find their way to the dinner table in winter months. But that’s another rule that Stephan’s wines gleefully break.

A lightly chilled, summer Châteauneuf? Look no further.

Domaine Juliette Avril wines to try

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I was chatting to a winemaker recently over dinner, and I confided in him an insecurity of mine.

I explained that while I didn’t normally find it difficult to describe the style of any given Rhône vintage, I found it peculiarly challenging to succinctly summarise that of 2022.

‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I feel the same way.’ It helped put my mind at rest. But I’m still determined to get to grips with this slippery customer.

In any given year, wines tend to perform rather like flocks of birds or shoals of fish: there might be smaller sub-groups or individual outliers, but the majority move in the same direction to create a general vintage style.

The 2022, however, is unusually chaotic.

The season

Lewis Bungener of Clos de Caveau says ‘2022 was a very particular vintage – one that initially caused real concern.’

Between 15 October 2021 and 1 September 2022, just 300mm of rain fell in the southern Rhône, compared to an average of 600mm.

Combined with the intense heat (it was the hottest May on record) many vines simply shut down and stopped growing in order to conserve water.

‘The rain that eventually came in late summer changed everything,’ says Bungener.

‘The effect was extraordinary: what had threatened to become heavy wines with dry, harsh tannins found an incredible balance, gaining freshness and definition. That said, producers who misjudged maturity timings did still suffer.’

Cécile Dusserre of Domaine de Montvac agrees, saying: ‘We had two nights of rain on 7 and 8 September, and we finished harvesting on 14 September.’

Rain at harvest can cause grapes to rot, but conditions had been so hot and dry, the water was welcome.

‘It allowed for a more relaxed juice and lowered the concentration of the berries,’ says Dusserre.

Though controlled irrigation is permitted in Vacqueyras, it was gratifying to see that some of the best wines this year were produced by estates that don’t water their vines, such as Domaine de Montvac, Domaine Montirius and Domaine la Monardière.

It proves that even in very dry years, Vacqueyras can still produce excellent wines, which bodes well for an uncertain future.

The tasting

These extreme conditions created a series of obstacles and pitfalls that vignerons were forced to navigate. Not everyone succeeded.

The year started with a huge abundance of grapes. Those who failed to drop fruit often struggled to eventually ripen all their berries, ending up with green, unripe flavours.

The lack of rain during the growing season produced very small berries, with little juice but thick skins. For some, excessive extraction led to tough tannins.

Intense heat can cause many problems, and some wines suffered from high alcohol – though not as many as I expected. Instances of low acidity or pruney fruit were thankfully rare.

And finally, some wines failed to make the grade simply due to excessive oak. Layering oak tannins on top of robust fruit tannins produced some inelegant, clunky wines.

But many producers managed to sidestep some or all these potential snares to create wines of balance and drinkability.

The verdict

Having had a few years in bottle to come together, many are now looking better than they did from barrel – both whites and reds.

I felt happy to recommend around half the wines I tasted, and they are featured below.

And many of those who did succeed really excelled.

As Bungener says: ‘The vintage across the region produced a mixed picture but for those who managed the conditions well, 2022 produced wines of real distinction: a rare combination of richness and fullness alongside finesse and freshness.’

This tasting helped me to understand this confounding year. The key is this: the best wines excel despite the vintage, not because of it.

The best Vacqueyras 2022 wines in bottle

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Readers of this column might remember a story about Château L’Ermite d’Auzan in Costières de Nîmes, and how it successfully uses homemade essential oils instead of copper to fight disease.

It turns out this isn’t the only example of how this Southern Rhône appellation is a hotbed of experimentation.

Producers are trialling a raft of new varieties and fresh approaches in the vineyard.

Once considered a brackish backwater, Costières de Nîmes is fast becoming one of the most dynamic appellations in the Rhône.

Rhône-sur-Mer

Costières de Nîmes is one of the 11 Rhône Valley appellations that surround the central southern Côtes-du-Rhône growing area.

Though considered part of the Rhône family, all have an independent appellation rulebook and unique character.

The word costières means ‘little hills’, and this pebbly coastal appellation is made up of several vast banks of galets roulés.

It borders the Camargue regional nature park, with its wild horses, bulls and flamingos. It shares some soils and grapes with Châteauneuf to the north, but it feels like a different world.

Despite the quality of some of the wines, I’ve always detected something of an inferiority complex when visiting.

But a recent visit by legendary ‘oenogeologist’ Georges Truc [please link] has given local growers confidence in their terroir.

Cyril Marès of Mas Carlot says, ‘it helped cure our imposter syndrome’.

Viva la VIFA

The Rhône Valley has more grapes than most regions to play with, but that’s not stopping them from testing out some new ones – mainly to combat disease and climate change.

These are known as VIFAs (short for Variétés d'Intérêt à Fin d'Adapatation.)

Several Rhône appellations are doing this. The main AOC Côtes-du-Rhône, for example, is trying out whites Carignan Blanc, Floréal, Rolle (a.k.a. Vermentino) and red Vidoc.

I’m yet to taste a stunning Vidoc, so I’m pleased to see that Costières de Nîmes has selected a more promising line up.

The reds on trial are Italy’s Montepulciano and Spain’s Graciano (known locally as Morrastel). Both are at their limit of ripening here and have a track record of great things back home.

Whites varieties are Piquepoul Blanc and Tourbat (a.k.a. Malvoisie de Roussillon), both useful for their high acid levels.

There’s also the pink-skinned Souvignier Gris, a semi-aromatic grape with good acidity and low alcohol.

Rules around VIFAs are strict. Estates can plant up to 5% of their vineyard area with them, and individual wines can contain up to 10% in the final blend.

After a trial period of 10 years, appellation authorities will decide whether or not to embrace them more fully.

Organic -> biodynamic -> regenerative

Costières de Nîmes is a huge appellation – it makes 5% of all the wine produced in the Rhône Valley each year.

But it’s still relatively strong on sustainability – in 2025, 34% of production was certified organic or biodynamic, up from 29% in 2024 (the regional average is 23%).

Many of the best estates farm biodynamically, such as Château Beaubois, Château Mourgues du Grès and Terre des Chardons.

Leading organic producers include Mas Carlot, Château Saint Cyrgues, L’Ermite D’Auzan and Château de Montfrin.

The Gassier family, however, goes one step further. Michel Gassier’s two estates – Domaine Gassier and Château de Nages – were the first in France to be certified regenerative, in 2023.

There is no established definition of regenerative viticulture, but essentially it’s an approach which aims to restore and enhance soil health, biodiversity, local ecosystems and communities.

Michel’s daughter Isabel Gassier describes it as “a series of farming practices and social commitments”.

One such practice is adopting a ‘no till’ approach to vineyards to avoid disrupting underground fungi networks.

Instead, cover crops are grown to reduce erosion, aid water infiltration and provide feed for grazing animals.

Another undertaking is planting trees and hedgerows between parcels of vines to provide habitat for birds and animals. They prey on undesirable insects, reducing the need for insecticide.

They’ve also built high-quality lodging for seasonal workers, and share 15% of their profits with their employees.

‘It’s not a diploma, it’s perpetual improvement… based on observation and common sense,’ says Michael. ‘It encompasses everything that agriculture needs to think about.’

Does farming regeneratively make a difference to how the wines taste? With so many other variables it’s hard to say.

But one thing’s for certain – the Gassier family are now making thrilling, Cru-quality red and white Costières de Nîmes that serve as a beacon for the appellation.

Future perfect

As with any appellation of this size, it’s hard to generalise about quality.

There is some talk of further refining the map to create a kind of ‘Costières de Nîmes Villages’. Perhaps that will bring more focus.

Currently there are over 100 producers, but only a small minority produce wines to shout about. But they are testimony to this land’s potential.

By trialling new varieties and farming techniques they’re readying themselves for an uncertain future. But, in the short term at least, things have never looked brighter.

Wines worth trying from the Rhône’s wild west

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For winemakers, producing long-lived styles is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, ageability confers prestige. And prestige elevates prices.

But on the other hand, long-lived wines can discourage regular purchases. Producers of, say, Port have a hard time convincing their customers to buy every year, as many clients already have some gradually maturing in the cellars – and it can last a lifetime.

Making wines such as Provence rosé can be a better business model. The average bottle price might be lower, but they’re consumed immediately; so if you like them, they’ll need to be replaced.

What about Côte-Rôtie?

When it comes to ageing, Côte-Rôtie can be enjoyed both young and old, but many of the best arrive at peak drinking between 10 and 20 years of age. It would be convenient if producers only released their wines when they reached this sweet spot, but holding wines for a decade before selling them isn’t commercially viable for most estates.

That’s why Stéphane Ogier’s new cuvée Mes Grands Lieux is so interesting. The new release is 2016, and Ogier says he will sell each subsequent vintage only after 10 year’s maturation.

Stéphane Ogier in brief

• First vintage bottled by Stéphane’s father Michel was 1983
• Stéphane joined the estate 1997
• Total size of estate: 43ha
• Surface in Côte-Rôtie: 14ha
• Individual parcels of vines in Côte-Rôtie: 35
• Lieux-dits in production in Côte-Rôtie: 22
• Mes Grands Lieux average production: 15,000 bottles

Change of range

Until now, there have been three quality levels in Ogier’s range of Côte-Rôties, following a notionally Burgundian model.

To start with, there is Mon Village, a blend of vineyards that contains vineyards across the appellation, particularly his younger vines.

Skipping straight to the top, there are his single-vineyard wines, which he produces in all but the most difficult years. He typically creates between six and nine, which are sold in a mixed selection case. This includes what he considers to be his ‘grand cru’ bottlings: Côte Blonde, Lancement and La Belle Hélène.

But not all of his single-vineyard wines are bottled separately. A larger proportion is blended together to make his Côte-Rôtie Réserve, which sits between Mon Village and his single vineyards.

It is this Réserve bottling that has evolved and has now been released at 10 years of age, under the Mes Grands Lieux label.

The decision to start ageing the wines before release came after he made some tweaks to the blend.

In 2015, he started incorporating more of his structured, ‘Brune’ side parcels and started including more whole clusters. From 2016, he realised this cuvée could now take – indeed required – extended ageing as a result.

‘I didn’t know it would be 10 years to begin with – just that I wanted to keep it,’ he says. The only was to ensure that people held it for long enough was to store it himself.

That’s why there has been no Réserve released since 2016. And why, in 2026, Mes Grands Lieux 2016 now sees the light of day.

Tasting Mes Grands Lieux

The blend changes from year to year. But to generalise, since the 2016 vintage, Mes Grands Lieux is made up of around a dozen lieux-dits, all of which are fermented separately then blended after ageing for around 24 months in barriques and (increasingly) demi-muids.

Around three quarters of the lieux-dits are situated on the schistous ‘Brune’ side of the appellation, and the wine is made of 96%-98% Syrah (the rest Viognier) with close to 50% whole clusters.

Having recently tasted every vintage made so far (2007, 2010, and 2012 to 2022 inclusive) I can confirm that the jump in quality from the 2016 is noticeable and significant. Most vintages before that point are good, but they don’t reach the same heights – particularly the excellence of the 2016, 2019 and 2020.

I was surprised by the quality of some of the more difficult vintages – notably 2014 and 2021 – until Ogier explained that he made no single-vineyard bottlings these years. Everything – even his Côte-Blonde, Lancement and Belle Hélène – went into Mes Grands Lieux.

My only quibble is this: 10 years is not always quite enough. The 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2022 will all improve even more with further time in bottle. So don’t assume Mes Grands Lieux guarantees a wine at peak drinking (though the 2018 and 2021 should be drinking well on release, as is everything pre-2016).

But this is a minor criticism. By ageing these wines in perfect conditions until they’re ready to drink, Ogier deserves our praise.

Crucially, they’re past that awkward teenage stage at around seven to eight years when many Côte-Rôties can show poorly. Any further ageing is optional, and down to us.

This is great for wine lovers – it provides access to Côte-Rôtie that’s been stored under optimum conditions either at peak drinking or not far off. And it’s a smart move for Ogier. Côte-Rôtie might be a long-lived wine, but these wines won’t hang around for long in people’s cellars. And they’ll likely be swiftly replaced with more.

Matt's tasting notes for Ogier's Côte-Rôtie Mes Grands Lieux: 2007 to 2022

Wines are listed in order of oldest to youngest

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Imagine there was a French region twice as big as the southern Rhône, growing largely the same grape varieties, producing reds and whites of great personality and often remarkable value for money.

As a Rhône lover, you’d want to explore it, right?

Well it turns out you can: it’s called Provence. Have you, like so many Rhône lovers, been accidentally ignoring it?

If so, it’s time to put that right.

Lay of the land

The vineyards of the Rhône and those of Provence smile at each other from either side of the Durance River.

There are appellations on both sides that feel like they could belong on the other.

Les Baux de Provence is technically in Provence but it’s just a stone’s throw from Avignon. Luberon sits at the Rhône table, but its wines have a distinctly Provençal accent.

But while much of the southern Rhône has been moulded by the meandering river, Provence isn’t shaped by waterways in quite the same way.

There’s no drawn out coastal plain; often the land simply stops and drops to the waves below.

Provence is essentially the space between the Alps and the Mediterranean that runs from the Rhône River to the Italian border, composed mostly of dramatic limestone hills and mountains.

Even when the sea is out of sight, the theatrical, portentous clouds remind you of its proximity.

Understanding Provence appellations

Although the appellation system of Provence lacks unity and cohesion, it can at least be fairly easily explained.

On the one hand, there is a collection of small, long-established appellations that encircle the region: Bandol, Cassis, Bellet, Palette and Les Baux de Provence.

Their strength lies in red or white wines rather than rosé, and their collective output is small in volume – but highly distinctive.

Then there are the ‘Big Three’ appellations at the heart of the region that make up around 90% of Provence wine production, bottling mostly rosé.

Of these three newer appellations, the biggest is Côtes de Provence (73% of Provence's production), then Coteaux d’Aix en Provence (18%) and finally Coteaux Varois en Provence (9%).

The largest of these, Côtes de Provence, contains five small sub-regions within it: Fréjus, La Londe, Notre Dame des Anges, Pierrefeu and Sainte-Victoire.

Think of the first four as the ‘Named Villages’ of Provence; Sainte-Victoire has just been elevated above the others and nominated a cru.

The small appellations in the first group, such as Bandol and Cassis, have more stylistic definition; unsurprising given their compact nature.

When it comes to the Big Three, identifying individual overperforming estates, rather than looking for regional styles, can be the most fruitful approach for Rhône lovers.

Two regions, one culture

In places, the vineyards of the Rhône and Provence blend into each other – it’s not always obvious to the naked eye which side of the border you’re on.

And although one wine region bears the name Provence, Provençal culture spreads well beyond its borders and into the southern Rhône too.

It’s only natural that many of the wines share a similar profile.

Since Provence embraced rosé, for which it’s now rightly renowned, it has become increasingly associated with this one specific style.

But let’s not forget about the wealth of other wines that have existed here since long before this trend for pale pinks.

If you’re a fan of the Rhône, you’ll find much to enjoy.

The Provence wines to try if you're a Rhône wine lover:

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Nothing piques my interest more than an unknown estate from an unexceptional appellation that suddenly starts making brilliant wine.

It sparks an insatiable desire to discover what changed, and how they did it.

Over the past few years, Château la Borie in Suze-la-Rousse has been rapidly improving, culminating in its 2023 Syrah winning Best in Show at the 2025 Decanter World Wine Awards.

A tasting of its 2024 Syrah proved that this wasn’t just a fluke. I paid them a visit to uncover the source of this transformation.

A new broom

When I first met Raphaël Knapp in 2019, he had just bought Château la Borie, so at that point he had no wine to show me.

For 15 years previously, Knapp had worked as an importer in California, specialising in artisanal French wines. Eventually he got homesick, and decided to return to his home country.

Suze-la-Rousse is one of the 21 named villages in the southern Rhône. Much of the flat plain that surrounds it is littered with small pebbles.

It’s a hot terroir best suited to punchy, warming reds but it rarely rivals Châteauneuf for complexity or Cairanne for finesse.

When he bought this 60ha estate, it was underperforming, making unremarkable Côtes du Rhône.

But Knapp thought the terroir had potential; he described it as a ‘sleeping beauty’. But my visit brought to mind a different story: that of the Wizard of Oz.

A tale of two terroirs

As I was driving through endless fields of sepia-coloured stones, I was unexpectedly transported to a technicolour landscape.

It turns out that Suze-la-Rousse is only partly stony – there’s also an outcrop of vibrant, ochre-coloured sandstone.

The change is so sudden that I originally assumed this incongruous soil must have been dumped on the path by some crooked builders.

Like some kind of yellow brick road, it opened out into vineyards that dazzled with colour – not just the yellow sands, but blue-green wild thyme, and bottle-green moss.

Could this be the source of the quality revolution at Château la Borie? On arriving, Knapp converted the estate to organic farming; but no, otherwise the vineyards themselves are little changed.

We went back to taste in the fairytale château itself, still stuck in time. But the wines were anything but antiquated. The whites and rosés are still work in progress, but the reds sizzled and popped with colour and flavour.

The two that stand out are both produced on that mustard-coloured sand – one a Grenache, the other a Syrah.

The Grenache has such purity and luminosity, it’s like a bowl of red berries in a stained-glass window. It’s a brilliant expression of Grenache, unhindered by excess body, alcohol or oak.

If anything, the Syrah is even better. The aromatics rise like smoke from the glass, as sharply defined as shadow puppets: bacon, menthol, pine resin and pink peppercorns.

Its complexity suggests a northern origin, but its volume and plenitude locate it firmly in the south.

Secrets of the cellar

If the vineyards are little changed since Knapp took over, then that confirms it, I thought – the magic must be conjured in the winery. We unlocked the doors and I stepped gingerly inside.

But when the curtain is pulled back, it’s the same old winery as before; a rickety metal staircase, tall concrete tanks and plain plastic buckets. No amphorae, no biodynamic dynamiser – not even a new oak barrel.

At the end of the 1939 MGM classic, the eponymous wizard turns out to be a fraud. But unlike him, Knapp has never claimed to be something he isn’t.

He’s just doing his best to make good wines with the set-up he’s inherited from the previous owners.

Thanks to Knapp’s courage, brains and heart, now we can see what this unloved estate was really capable of. He still has some self-doubt.

‘I’m constantly critical of myself and trying to be better,’ he says. ‘But I’m also surprised we managed to get to this quality so quickly.’

In the end, it turns out there was no great transformation in the vineyards or in the cellar. The alchemy is all just down to a new owner – Raphaël Knapp – the Wizard of Suze.

A new vision and a fresh pair of hands can make all the difference.

Château la Borie wines are imported to the UK by Clark Foyster Wines

Tasting eight Château la Borie wines:

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This year Château-Grillet celebrates the 90th anniversary of its appellation, granted in 1936. It felt like a fitting moment for me to pay a visit to the only estate that makes wines under this appellation.

Admittedly I arrived without a gift or even a card, but I needn’t have worried. There were neither balloons nor bunting. It appears this birthday isn’t having undue impact on the serious business of making wine here.

And anyway, it has more significant anniversaries on the horizon. For a start, 2027 marks 200 years since the estate was bought by the Neyret-Gachet family, the previous owners that ran the property for generations and secured its appellation.

And in 2048, Château-Grillet will have mark its 400th anniversary, after the architect and adviser to Cardinal Richelieu, Girard Desargues, moved into the property and made wine in 1648.

How much further back winemaking history extends at this site is unclear, but given that the Romans were making wine in the area over 2,000 years ago, it’s quite possibly millennia.

Though no birthday cake was forthcoming, I did get to meet the new technical manager, Aloïs Houeto, which made my visit more than worthwhile.

He’s making some small but consequential changes to this ancient estate.

Château-Grillet AP: An appellation is born

The first five wine appellations of France were Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Tavel, Arbois, Cassis and Monbazillac, all established in May 1936.

At the time, if you owned a château (defined as a building with at least two turrets), and your vineyard was in one single block around your property, you could apply for your own appellation d’origine contrôlée.

Canny Château-Grillet did just that, and was granted an appellation despite the fact it only amounted to 3.5ha of Viognier vines.

Sitting as it does at the heart of the larger Condrieu appellation, does it really deserve its own AP?

Houeto believes it does. ‘That’s the goal,’ he says, ‘to make a wine that’s unique, not like other terroirs in Condrieu.’

‘Salinity is the signature of Château-Grillet,’ says Houeto. He believes it becomes more apparent as the wine ages, ‘but the texture is different from the start… It can be rich, but it’s always ethereal.’

Acquisition by Artémis

In 2011, the Neyret-Gachet family sold the property to Artémis Domaines, the French wine group — owned by the billionaire Pinault family — that also includes Château Latour, Clos de Tart and Domaine d’Eugénie.

The last time I visited Château-Grillet, the technical director was Jaeok Cramette, a winemaker of South Korean descent.

She stepped across to manage Domaine d’Eugénie in Vosne-Romanée in 2024, after longstanding previous winemaker Michel Mallard stepped back.

Houeto took the reins at Château-Grillet during the 2024 harvest, aged just 29. He had joined Artémis Domaines in 2021 after studying agricultural engineering, followed by a diploma in winemaking.

He began by working on a research and development project at Château Latour, then in 2023 he was given a research and development role for the group as a whole. Not long after, the managing director of Artémis Domaines, Frédéric Engerer, asked him to take on Château-Grillet.

He was surprised, as it wasn’t something he had requested, but ‘I’m feeling really lucky,’ he says, ‘I’m really grateful’ to be asked.

He points out that Engerer was put in charge of Latour in his 30s, and as such he’s happy to trust other young people with positions of responsibility.

Finessing the details

When I think about what I was doing aged 29, I can’t help but be impressed by Houeto’s relaxed and confident demeanour, given that he is now responsible for one of France’s most historic estates.

He describes his tenure in 2024 and 2025 as a learning phase. ‘Viticulture is all about observing,’ he says, ‘and you need to be in the vineyard every day.’

His first objective was to increase the organic matter in the soil, because ‘if you don’t have life in your soil, you can’t make great wines’.

Since my last visit, he has planted a number of saplings among the vines to provide them with shade.

Cover crops are more abundant; it helps the sandy granite soils retain water, says Houeto, and what he sews depends on whether the vines need more nitrogen or more carbon.

The harvest is delivered into a refrigerated cool room, ‘one of the biggest changes this year,’ he says, as it helps him to pick and press at exactly the right moment.

Each block is then vinified in miniature 10hl tanks and aged separately before blending. The winery is tiny, closer to a gym in size, with just as much polished steel.

He’s been tinkering with the maturation too, now prioritising 300L barrels over the traditional 228L size.

He uses only 5%-15% new oak, and only for the grand vin — not for the estate’s Condrieu or Côtes du Rhône.

‘It’s just details,’ he says. He has no plans to propose any major changes to the estate. But ‘the vines are like pro athletes,’ he says, ‘you have to work on small details, aiming to improve by just one tenth of a second.’

Consistency was historically Château-Grillet’s weak spot, but since 2014 it has been delivering excellent wines year in, year out.

In its current form, it will take another 90 years in its stride.

Château-Grillet wines are available in the UK via Yapp Brothers Wine Merchants.

Château-Grillet latest releases:

When Rhône winemakers want to understand the ground beneath their feet, the person they turn to first is Georges Truc.

He has done more than anyone to increase our collective knowledge of the geology of the southern Rhône, and much of my own understanding of this complex terroir is thanks to him.

Despite his local prominence, outside France he doesn’t always enjoy the renown that he so richly deserves.

I caught up with him in his home village of Visan to discuss his career, how different soils influence the wine in your glass and why you should always taste a wine before you smell it.

‘I was born in a cellar’

Born in 1942, Georges spent much of his childhood playing in his father’s winery in the village of Visan, 30km northeast of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

His family never owned vineyards, but local growers would bring their crop to Georges’ father who vinified and sold the wine to negociants.

The landscape was different then. In the early 1960s, neither Syrah nor Viognier had yet arrived in this part of the Rhône. Grenache was even more dominant than it is today.

Despite decades of winemaking evolution, the winery that Georges remembers is remarkably similar to what’s considered fashionable today.

Wines were made and matured in concrete tanks and old foudres, they used natural yeasts, and, since the destemmer hadn’t yet arrived on the scene, all wines were whole-bunch fermented.

I wondered if, before this era of climate chaos, the wines his father made were lower in alcohol. Not really; Georges remembers in 1952 the potential alcohol of some tanks reached 17.2% abv. Back then, growers competed to bring in the ripest grapes they could.

‘I could have continued my father’s work,’ says Georges, but his teachers encouraged him to continue studying. ‘I was interested in rocks and stones from an early age,’ he says, and he went on to teach geology at the University of Lyon, where he taught for 40 years.

‘But this love of wine, and winemaking, never left me,’ he says, and since then he has collaborated with countless Rhône appellations and producers to create soil maps of their terroirs.

He’s also written and co-written some invaluable books on subjects such as Gigondas and, most recently, Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

What soil does to wine

Georges describes himself as an ‘oeno-geologist’, given his interests in both wine, rocks, and the relationship between the two. He has a warm and calmly authoritative manner and is generous with his knowledge.

He describes the southern Rhône as ‘a great mosaic’ of soil types, and says that the best way to understand it is through the lens of Grenache.

‘It is the king of the grape varieties,’ in the southern Rhône, ‘and the best for communicating terroir.’

To understand the wines of the southern Rhône, he says the first step is to memorise the taste and mouthfeel of pure Grenache.

The next step is to taste Grenache on different soils: how it tastes on limestone, galets roulés, sand.

And from there, to taste different blends: 80% Grenache with 20% Syrah or perhaps 20% Mourvèdre, and so on with different varieties and proportions.

He points out that traditional wine education starts with smelling first, but he believes this only helps us to identify the grape variety – not the terroir.

For this, he insists that the sensation of touch is more important. ‘We’re all conditioned to start with the nose… but start with the palate,’ he says, ‘so not to overwhelm the mind.’

An additional benefit of concentrating on touch, is that this is a sensation we all share, while our personal aromatic touchpoints vary depending which part of the world we are from.

How to taste soil

Training your palate to identify different tannic structures is the key to tasting for terroir. He believes there is a similarity to how the soil types feel on your fingers to how the wine will feel on your palate.

He describes tannins as 'like little balls' that are varied in size and texture, and that 'tannins will reveal the terroir'.

He points out that plants grown on galets roulés will have their roots in the accompanying clay that is found underneath the stones.

He describes clay as ‘a mineral treasure trove for the vine,’ and that it imparts a velvety texture to wines, along with ‘richness and complexity’.

Sand, however, produces wines of ‘delicacy and finesse’. When it comes to limestone, he says, ‘you don’t feel richness and complexity' – though they can be fine and delicate.

This substrate gives wines without much volume, and instead they have ‘a straight axis in the mouth,’ that often have tannins that give a texture reminiscent of denim.

Rather than having favourite appellations, George has preferred soil types. He is a particular fan of wines grown on stony marls (composed of clay and limestone) that were laid down by lakes.

These can be found around villages such as Cairanne, Rasteau, Vinsobres, Visan and Valréas.

‘They give the most fine, complex, sensual wines…’ he says, ‘they transport me.’

What he doesn’t like is heavy-handed barrel maturation. ‘What is a barrique?’ he asks. ‘It’s a container for transporting wine,’ he says, not something to flavour it. Particularly not Grenache with new oak.

He may be in his 80s now but Georges is busy and energetic – and his ideas are still pushing boundaries. He has helped countless winemakers to better understand their terroir, and in doing so to make better wines.

For that reason, it’s hard to name many individuals working in wine today that have had more of an influence on the Rhône Valley and its wines than Georges Truc.

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The 1989 vintage marked a transition in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a faultline between tradition and modernity. It witnessed the birth of the Cuvée Spéciale – elevated bottlings whose purpose was (and still is) to capture the very best of this extraordinary terroir.

Previously, the tradition in Châteauneuf was for an estate to produce a single red wine, and perhaps a single white, made by blending together all their various parcels.

But in 1989, a number of estates, such as Château de Beaucastel’s Hommage à Jacques Perrin, Domaine les Cailloux’s Cuvée Centenaire, Domaine de Marcoux’s Vieilles Vignes… and Clos du Mont-Olivet’s Cuvée du Papet, all started to create an additional premium bottling

They weren’t the first estates to do this. A handful of Cuvées Spéciales were made years before by estates such as Domaine Roger Sabon and Château la Nerthe.

But this collective new wave of 1989s rapidly moved the Cuvée Spéciale from the exception to the rule.

When I tasted the 1989 Cuvée du Papet in 2019, I was so impressed that it made one of my wines of the year .

Since then, I’ve been keen to get to know this cuvée better, and in January I was invited to a vertical tasting at the domaine.

The clos without a clos

In what can be an appellation of big personalities, Thierry Sabon is relatively self-effacing despite his winemaking talents.

He co-owns the Clos du Mont-Olivet estate with his cousins Céline and David. They represent the fourth generation; the estate was created in 1932 by their great-grandfather Séraphin Sabon.

The name Clos du Mont-Olivet is something of a misnomer – there is no actual clos (walled vineyard), but the estate was granted use of the term as it has been part of its name for so long.

Mont-Olivet refers to the lieu-dit Montalivet, which is home to their main parcel of vines. They have parcels in 15 different lieux-dits, making up 21ha in Châteauneuf, and soils are mostly sandy clay.

‘It’s good for making wines with finesse,’ says Thierry. ‘Sand is more and more sought after.’

Varieties are planted to match each individual vineyard, but Grenache dominates, followed by Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault.

They also grow some Counoise, Vaccarèse, Muscardin, Piquepoul Noir and Terret Noir.

They even have a small plantation just outside the appellation where they cultivate old varieties that were once grown in the appellation but are no longer permitted, such as Grand Noir and old Corsican grapes.

With climate change shaking things up, perhaps we’ll see a comeback.

What’s in a name

English speakers might assume the word Papet is somehow connected with the pope (le pape), but the name has a different origin. In the local Provençal dialect, papet means grandfather.

‘The name Papet emerged through a family consensus,’ says Céline, ‘a simple and heartfelt way to pay tribute to the courageous work of their grandfather Séraphin, whom everyone deeply admired.’

It was also chosen in reference to the character with the same name in the films Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources because, ‘they captured with great accuracy the rural world and the deep-rooted values of peasant life at that time,' she says.

It’s a reminder that La Cuvée du Papet was created in a different era, before Châteauneuf-du-Pape had enjoyed its modern renaissance. The appellation’s resurgence in the 1990s was partly thanks to these new bottlings and the attention they attracted.

What’s in the bottle

The original idea for La Cuvée du Papet came from Pierre Sabon, Céline’s father. Rather than a specific plot, a selection of the most promising fruit is made each year in their vineyards, with the lieux-dits Montalivet, Bois Dauphin and La Crau typically making ‘the backbone of the cuvée,’ according to Thierry.

The parcels and varieties, usually around 80% Grenache topped up with Syrah and Mourvèdre, are cofermented.

Thierry includes around 50% whole bunch, which ‘brings these particular aromas, little delicate fruits,’ from the intracellular fermentation, and ‘the stems bring a tannic side and a menthol element, freshness on the palate and length,’ he says.

Working with stems can be a double-edged sword. Pick too early, and wines can suffer from harsh, drying tannins.

But wait for well-ripened stems and the alcohol can become unbalanced and the fruit can taste jammy.

Overall, working with whole bunch here is a worthwhile choice. This wine has always been a potent style, displaying warming alcohol in more recent years.

But that’s the payoff for the tannic finesse and mentholated complexity that this cuvée develops with time in bottle – and the fruit is never jammy. Sometimes you have to take the warm with the smooth.

Not everybody agrees that the Cuvée Speciale has been a positive development in the evolution of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Many estates jumped on the bandwagon in the 1990s, producing overblown, heavy or oaky wines that didn’t stand the test of time.

But the first few vintages of La Cuvée du Papet are undeniably brilliant wines, that still reverberate today with the greatness of this terroir.

They vindicate Pierre Sabon, and the revolutionary class of ‘89.

13 wines back to 1989

Wines are listed youngest to oldest

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With increasingly unpredictable weather, organic farming in France isn’t getting any easier. To make matters worse, a French government agency has recently restricted the use of most copper fungicides – organic winemakers’ main defence against downy mildew, which can destroy entire crops if left unchecked.

But one winemaker in the southern Rhône believes he has an alternative. What’s more, the treatment is adaptable to vineyards around the world and he’s willing to share his findings for free.

Could this signal the end of winemakers’ reliance on this potentially toxic chemical?

Scroll down for five wine reviews for Château l’Ermite d’Auzan

Château l’Ermite d’Auzan

Located in the southern part of Costières de Nîmes, l’Ermite d’Auzan is a 100ha estate, 75ha of which is planted with 10 different grape varieties. Established in 1973, it’s currently in the hands of Jérôme Castillon and his son Tanguy, the fourth generation.

Tanguy has been developing a natural remedy to fight against downy mildew, with encouraging results: essential oils.

Just a stone’s throw from the Mediterranean Sea, the pebbly zone of Costières de Nîmes is the Rhône’s most southerly growing area. It’s also one of the region’s most dynamic appellations, and Château l’Ermite d’Auzan’s work on essential oils is just one example.

When I visited in January this year, we drove to their higher vineyards in a vintage Jeep.

Though not particularly elevated, you can see for miles across the fairly flat landscape surrounded by loftier landmarks in the distance: Pic St Loup to the west, the town of Uzès to the north, Les Baux de Provence to the east.

To the south, you can see vast saltwater ponds and the glittering Mediterranean beyond.

Herbal remedy

‘The idea was to find something to burn the fungus,’ says Tanguy.

‘At the very beginning, the idea of working with essential oils came from their well-known effects on the human body, since the active molecules involved are exactly the same ones we use. When a molecule such as thymol has antifungal and antibacterial properties for the human body, its effect on the vine is almost identical.’

Essential oils have been used in traditional medicines to treat people for hundreds of years. Thymol, for example, is extracted from thyme and is still used today in products such as Listerine mouthwash.

Tanguy is not the first person to come up with this idea; there have been successful experiments in treating downy mildew with essential oils in the past.

But a commercial estate using essential oils successfully at this scale, and the ability to remove copper use, is something quite extraordinary.

L’Ermite d’Auzan now sprays its whole vineyard with essential oils instead of copper.

Copper: A blessing and a curse

The estate was certified organic in 2020, then biodynamic in 2024. Like other producers working without synthetic chemicals, their armoury against diseases is severely limited.

Two of the most serious fungal threats that growers face are powdery mildew and downy mildew; if working organically, the first is typically treated with sulphur, the second with copper.

If used moderately, most winemakers agree that sulphur is relatively benign when sprayed in the vineyard. Copper, however, is more problematic. It’s a heavy metal that doesn’t break down, and accumulates in the topsoil.

It can be harmful to earthworms and soil microorganisms, and in large quantities can pose a threat to animals, birds and vineyard workers. And, according to Tanguy, ‘it burns the hairs of the roots of the plant and blocks [the uptake of] potassium and other trace elements’.

In July 2025, France’s National Agency for Food, Environment and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) decided to restrict the sale of most copper-based fungicides.

According to its website, ‘while copper is of great value in agriculture, its toxic effects are of increasing concern’. But with no obvious alternatives, some winemakers have been left wondering if they can continue to work organically.

Natural methods

He makes the oils himself. On the long driveway towards the winery are neat rows of 15 different types of aromatic plants, including thyme, rosemary, lavender, oregano, mint and curry plant (immortelle). He tried growing sage but it was eaten by rabbits.

Each contains a different active chemical compound, and Tanguy says he uses five different types of plant over the course of a growing season to prevent the mildew from building up a resistance.

After picking and drying a batch of herbs, he uses an alambic still to distil the oil. It’s a simple process: steam passes through the herbs, releasing volatile components, and when the steam cools the oils rise to the surface of the captured liquid.

‘It took time to find the right concentrations,’ he says, and a lot of trial and error. He uses 80ml-100ml of oregano essential oil per hectare of vines, whereas lavender essential oil requires 280ml-300ml per hectare.

To get the right strength before spraying, he had to mix the oils with water – not an easy task. The answer was to mix the oils into milk first, then to mix the milk with water. It’s a curative, rather than preventative, treatment, and it needs reapplying after it rains.

A testing vintage

The 2024 vintage featured regular rains during spring, and many estates throughout the Rhône Valley suffered from attacks of downy mildew.

Jérôme says that certain neighbouring estates were badly affected, with some vineyards completely destroyed. But L’Ermite d’Auzan suffered barely any mildew on its grapes, and saw no decrease in production. A result, the family says, of spraying with essential oils.

No longer spraying with copper has led to additional benefits in the vineyard. Since a first analysis in 2019, the soil pH has dropped from 8.3 to 7.7, which is beneficial to the microbiome. Over the same period, the percentage of organic matter in the soil has risen from 1.8% to 2.5%.

Tanguy has also noticed that there is now less of a gap between sugar and tannin ripeness in his grapes, which means lower alcohol levels in their wines.

Working with essential oils instead of copper does have one disadvantage however – it’s more labour intensive. He has to spray 15-17 times per year; the maximum before using the oils was 13.

I wondered if the aromatic oils might transfer their flavour to the resulting wine, but Tanguy reassured me that, ‘it doesn’t go into the plant, just on the leaves, then it’s burnt off by the sun’. In any case, the last treatment is in mid-July, long before harvest.

Spreading knowledge

Though sceptical to begin with, Jérôme is now convinced of the oils’ effectiveness. ‘I’m a student again,’ he says, ‘and my son is the teacher!’

They have since received visits from wineries as far afield as Lebanon and Greece, curious to replicate the Castillons’ success. Tanguy says that they don’t have to grow the same plants that he does; they can use other aromatic plants that are indigenous to their respective regions.

He has so many visitors, he says, because, ‘I’m not selling anything’ – he’s just happy to share his knowledge.

Next for Tanguy is a meeting with INRAE, the French agricultural research institute, to further develop this approach. He’s confident that if this method works for him, it can work for others.

If he’s right, this could be a turning point for organic viticulture – and not a moment too soon.

Château l’Ermite d’Auzan wines tasted:

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A wet spring and a chilly September made for a challenging year in the Rhône in 2024 – there are some brilliant wines, but it’s inconsistent.

A handful of producers played the vintage with flair however, making desirable wines across the board.

It would be of no surprise to Rhône lovers if this list included revered estates such as Domaine Jean-Louis Chave in the Northern Rhône and Clos des Papes in the south, however.

Here then are six smaller, under-the-radar producers that excelled in 2024.

François et Fils

If you visit the François brothers, Yoann and Erwan, you might be surprised to encounter a herd of 25 cattle on their estate – but milk and cheese is still their main source of income.

They also have a few hectares of Côte-Rôtie however, including prize parcels of lieux-dits Les Rochains and Rozier.

The family started bottling in 1991, but it was Yoann’s arrival in 2004 that helped this side of the business take off. In good vintages, their cuvée classique can represent a very smart buy.

Key wines in 2024: François et Fils Côte-Rôtie; François et Fils Côte-Rôtie Rozier.

Domaine Belle

It wasn’t the easiest year for Crozes-Hermitage producers, but those around the village of Larnage – such as Domaine Belle – fared better than most.

It’s an organic, family-owned estate with a history that stretches back for generations with holdings in St-Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage and Hermitage itself.

They are unusually adept at making white wines, so the cooler, fresher 2024 played into their hands.

The domaine’s white Hermitage and white Crozes-Hermitage Roche Blanche are among the best in their respective appellations this year.

Key wines in 2024: Hermitage blanc, Crozes-Hermitage blanc Roche Blanche, Crozes-Hermitage rouge Les Pierrelles.

Domaine Franck Balthazar

Originally established in 1931 by Casimir Balthazar, the estate has been in the hands of his grandson Franck since 2002.

With only 3.5ha of Cornas, it’s not a large estate but his wines are well worth seeking out.

All of his Cornas cuvées are made with 100% whole bunch in 2024. His wines are approachable and perfumed, which chimes with the style of the vintage, one that’s more about delicacy and finesse than power.

Key wines in 2024: Cornas Juliette, Cornas Casimir, Cornas Sans Souffre Ajouté, Cornas Chaillot, Cornas Hommage.

Clos de Caveau

This Vacqueyras estate was briefly owned by the legendary Steven Spurrier, who sold it in 1976 to Gérard and Nicole Bungener.

They were organic pioneers in the region, starting on their journey in 1980, becoming certified in 1989.

Today it’s their son Henri Bungener who runs the domaine after a career as a psychoanalyst in London; he is assisted in turn by his son Lewis.

They make a fresh, detailed and transparent style of Vacqueyras, both in red and white. They also own a small plot of Gigondas, which is equally approachable and delicious.

Key wines in 2024: Gigondas rouge Champvermeil, Vacqueyras rouge Carmin Brillant, Vacqueyras rouge Lao Muse, Vacqueyras rouge Fruit Sauvage, Vacqueyras blanc Louis d’Or.

Domaine des Bosquets

A leading producer in Gigondas for many years now, Domaine des Bosquets perhaps can’t be described as ‘under the radar’.

But it deserves to be flagged up nonetheless, as this is Julien Brechet’s most impressive set of wines to date.

By extracting less, turning away from new oak and using more stems, his style has developed in a more restrained and elegant direction.

It’s a brilliant vintage for Gigondas, and an important one in the evolution of this estate.

Key wines in 2024: Gigondas Le Lieu Dit…, Gigondas Le Plateau…, Gigondas La Colline…, Gigondas Les Routes…, Gigondas Les Roches…, Gigondas Les Hauts-Lieux, Gigondas Le Regard Loin, Gigondas Le Bout du Monde.

Domaine Juliette Avril

An estate that’s been going from strength to strength over the past five years, Domaine Juliette Avril made some excellent red Châteauneufs in 2024, from its tradition bottling all the way up to its cuvées spéciales.

Today the estate is managed by Marie Lucile Brun, who took over from her mother Juliette Avril in 1988.

Marie Lucile is assisted by her son Stephan Brun who joined the estate in 2000. They own 18ha in Châteauneuf, including some very old vines which go into their impressive cuvée Maxence.

Key wines in 2024: Châteauneuf-du-Pape rouge, Châteauneuf-du-Pape rouge Maxence, Châteauneuf-du-Pape rouge Les Vignes de Juliette.

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Peter Gago, chief winemaker at Penfolds, leaves none of his winemaking dreams unfulfilled. His ambition to always have Penfolds’ elite Grange Shiraz in the thick of conversations about the world’s great wines has been elevated to new heights with a second vintage release of Grange La Chapelle.

Gago’s dream of combining Grange, a signature of southern hemisphere Shiraz, with La Chapelle, a monarch of the Rhône, in a single wine became a reality in early 2021.

A cheeky question directed to long-time friend Caroline Frey, then head winemaker at Domaine de la Chapelle, led to serious discussions about a viable collaboration.

The initial release of Grange La Chapelle 2021 in 2025 – an audacious French and Australian wine affair – caused shockwaves. The latest release shows serious continued intent for this star-aligned blend.

‘By uniting two iconic wines, this collaboration achieves something truly groundbreaking. As a vine grower, as a winemaker, it’s so magical, I would have never even dared to imagine it,’ commented Frey.

‘No-one in the world has ever blended two such legendary terroirs. It’s like Picasso and Dalí painting on the same canvas – an idea so extraordinary it almost feels too incredible to be real.’

Shiraz under the spotlight

When Penfolds winemaker Max Schubert created Grange in 1951, he made no secret of his admiration for and the inspiration provided by the great La Chapelle wines. He named his initial vintages ‘Grange Hermitage’ as a tribute – until French legal intervention saw the term removed from the Grange label in 1990.

Schubert’s vision to realise the most powerful, elegant and long-lived expression of Shiraz from Australian vineyards has remained a constant through a succession of Grange winemakers.

Now Gago’s responsibility, he wants to take assertive action as Shiraz appears to be drifting away from the nucleus of elite wine analysis. He believes that combining the most recent vintages of Grange with La Chapelle in a superstar blend offers a platform for more serious and focused conversations about Shiraz among the world’s wine connoisseurs.

Indeed, the new blend provides a delicious glimpse into the future – as the 2022 Grange is not due to be released to the market until later in 2026, although Gago is quick to note that the dual-hemisphere blend is entirely different in character, flavour and style to the 2022 Grange.

‘This collaboration between two great wineries is the grand world Shiraz advertisement, and I believe it will create significant conversations across the world,’ said Gago.

Going beyond

Grange La Chapelle 2022 is a blend of 50% La Chapelle from the steep hill of Hermitage in the Northern Rhône Valley, and 50% Grange from selected South Australian old-vine vineyards in the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra.

The topography of these sites is vastly different, as are the winemaking styles of the two contributing producers – particularly their oak regime. Grange is matured in 100% new American oak; La Chapelle has only 15% new French oak.

Combining two such assertive and distinctive wines may seem counterintuitive – with Grange promoting itself as the great multi-regional blend of Australian Shiraz, and La Chapelle being a definitive single-site Syrah. But Gago reasons that a blend can take the expression further ‘into uncharted territory’.

The idea may smack of a gimmick, with a keen eye on marketing – but the wine in the bottle is unmistakably profound.

What started as a trial between the two producers in 2021 has now become an extended series of wines – with the 2022 now released, plus 2023 and 2024 vintage blends in bottle.

As for the future, Gago simply quipped: ‘Well, after all this, perhaps anything is possible.’

This limited release will retail at €2,600 and AU$3,500 per bottle. A small allocation will be sold by Penfolds direct to consumer channel in Australia and the US. Buyers can express interest on a dedicated website: grangexlachapelle.com

Grange La Chapelle 2022: The verdict

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When researching articles, I’m often surprised that winemakers are so willing to share their professional secrets. Even my cheekier questions are usually answered with candour.

There is one estate that has always remained inscrutable, however: Château Rayas.

Scroll down for notes and scores for 12 incredible wines from Rayas and Fonsalette

On 18 November 2025, I hosted a tasting of Rayas and its sister property Château de Fonsalette at London private members’ club 67 Pall Mall. We tasted the 1998, 1999 and 2000 red from both estates, and the same vintages of Pignan and Fonsalette Cuvée Syrah.

One week later, I received sad news. The owner, Emmanuel Reynaud, had passed away, at the age of just 61. Social media continues to bear witness to bottles being opened all around the world to toast his life and work.

Emmanuel was kind enough to let me taste from barrel every year. He didn’t have to; the wines all sold out on allocation so he didn’t need to spend time with journalists.

Yet despite his willingness to answer questions, I never cracked the code – the secret to this estate’s unique style. I’m not sure anyone has.

But over the years I’ve gleaned some insights into Reynaud’s way of working, and got to know the different styles from his three estates.

An estate apart

Despite its arcane reputation, Château Rayas is not an old estate in the context of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It was founded in 1880 by Albert Reynaud after he went deaf, changing careers from notary to winemaker.

The two subsequent generations to manage the estate, his son Louis Reynaud and grandson Jacques Reynaud, were eccentric characters, and they rarely welcomed visitors. Jacques died suddenly and without children in 1997, so his nephew Emmanuel Reynaud took the reins.

Unlike Bordeaux and Burgundy, Châteauneuf has no official classification system. This didn’t stop Louis from printing ‘Premier Grand Cru’ on labels for Château Rayas, much to the exasperation of local authorities.

But he had a point. Château Rayas is indeed a Châteauneuf, but it bears little resemblance to other wines made in the appellation. It is a different breed.

The Rayas style

Rayas is pure Grenache – unusual in Châteauneuf – and is immediately recognisable by its perfume alone.

It’s highly aromatic, with notes of crushed strawberries, blood orange and Provençal herbs. Scents of Turkish delight, rose, mint, violets, strawberry jam and cocoa nibs are also characteristic.

With time in bottle comes fresh mushroom, forest floor and smoke. (And it’s not just Rayas; similar aromatic markers are found across all his red wines).

Rayas is never dark in colour; it’s a transparent strawberry-red.

Its shape and presence in the mouth are moulded by the vintage. Cooler years such as 2008 are refreshing, acid-driven, clear and herbal. Warmer years like 2012 and 2005 are generous, opulent, luxurious in texture.

Rayas can be powerful, but it’s rarely tannic. The wines strongly reflect the growing conditions experienced – and they always find something positive to say, even in difficult years.

Making of a marvel

So where does this style – pale, aromatic, delicate but ageworthy – come from? There are certain things we know for sure.

The 23ha Rayas estate, which takes its name from lieu-dit Le Rayas, has just as much land planted with trees as vines. It feels cooler and shadier than neighbouring vineyards. The vines are planted in sand, which often gives wines with a pale tint and very fine tannins.

The estate is divided into three parts according to their exposure to the sun: Le Levant (the rising); Le Coeur (the heart); and Le Couchant (the setting). They give slightly different expressions which together build a complex whole.

The other Châteauneuf produced here, Pignan, is made from a small parcel of vines in the lieu-dit of the same name just to the north of Rayas. It’s about one third the size of the Rayas vineyard, and is also pure Grenache.

They are made the same way. Yields are very low, typically 15hl/ha, and Emmanuel was always among the last to harvest; he would wait for the first rains of autumn before picking. The bunches are fermented whole, with stems contributing texture and aromatic complexity.

In the cellar, extraction is very gentle, making for a light tannic weave. Also, the wines are only sold when deemed ready to drink, usually around 10 years old, giving time for any stem tannins to limber up. Large oak barrels – never new – are used to age the wine for 16 months before bottling.

Mystery remains

None of these factors, except the site itself of course, is unique to Rayas. So just what is it that makes these wines so distinctive?

Could it be using semi-carbonic maceration, or even a touch of botrytis? Emmanuel says no.

Could it be a unique strain of indigenous yeast, or the selection of plant material? Perhaps.

Though Pignan can offer immense drinking pleasure in a similar stylistic vein, it rarely benefits from a side-by-side comparison with Rayas, which is a superior terroir. Only certain vintages, such as 2011, can stand proudly beside the grand vin.

Rayas, Pignan and Château de Fonsalette are all made at Rayas; any barrels deemed unsuitable for these cuvées are blended together to make La Pialade. It displays the same compelling house style, if rarely the refinement or concentration, of the other reds made here.

There are whites too. Château Rayas makes a richly textured white Châteauneuf from 50% Clairette, 50% Grenache Blanc. Château de Fonsalette’s fresher white uses these two grapes and a little Marsanne. They have even made sweet wines in the distant past.

Perfecting the blend: Château de Fonsalette

Louis Reynaud acquired Château de Fonsalette in 1945. It’s located near the village of Lagarde-Paréol, 20km due north of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. These 12ha are spread across a similarly sandy terroir to Rayas, though here it’s scattered with small pebbles.

It could theoretically be labelled Côtes du Rhône Villages Massif d’Uchaux, as it lies within that Named Village appellation, but the wines are labelled simply Côtes du Rhône.

The methods of production are the same, but what marks out Fonsalette is Reynaud’s mastery of not just Grenache, but also of Cinsault and Syrah.

Tasting the pure Cinsault component with Emmanuel has long been a highlight of my year – it’s by far the purest, most beautiful example of this underrated variety I’ve ever encountered.

The Syrah component is highly aromatic, brimming with smoke, black pepper and bacon fat. It makes for a darker wine than Rayas or Pignan, and one with a more chiselled tannic structure. It can happily age for 30 years and more, becoming increasingly complex with time.

When the Syrah is productive enough, they make a separate mono-variety bottling. Compared to most southern Syrahs it’s more savoury, bony and leafy – you could be forgiven for guessing northern Rhône.

The Vacqueyras cornucopia: Château des Tours

The third of the Reynaud properties, bought by Louis in 1935, is near Sarrians in the far west of Vacqueyras. This is where Emmanuel cut his teeth; it was originally owned by his father Bertrand. At 40ha, it’s by far the family’s largest estate. Yet again, the soils are primarily sand.

Due to its size, the range is broader here, with the Vacqueyras and Côtes du Rhône wines under the Château des Tours label and a range of IGP wines called Domaine des Tours.

There are many curiosities to explore – a pure Clairette offers aromas of fresh vegetables as well as fruits, and a pure Merlot – often released with around 15 years in bottle – is miles better than anyone might reasonably expect a Rhône Merlot to be.

Wines produced at Château des Tours:

• Château des Tours Vacqueyras Rouge
• Château des Tours Vacqueyras Blanc
• Château des Tours Côtes du Rhône Grande Réserve Rouge
• Château des Tours Côtes du Rhône Grande Réserve Blanc
• Château des Tours Côtes du Rhône Rouge
• Château des Tours Côtes du Rhône Blanc
• Les Tours IGP Vaucluse Grenache Blanc
• Domaine des Tours IGP Vaucluse Rouge
• Domaine des Tours IGP Vaucluse Merlot
• Domaine des Tours IGP Vaucluse Merlot Syrah
• Domaine des Tours IGP Vaucluse Clairette
• Parisy Vin de France Rosé

A great magician…

The wines from this estate can offer great value compared to Rayas and Fonsalette, still displaying all the classic markers of Reynaud’s winemaking, but at a much lower price tag. That said, speculation has pushed up the prices of all of Reynaud’s wines dramatically on the secondary market – much to his dismay.

The three estates have now passed into the hands of Emmanuel’s children. I wonder what changes we will see, and whether they’ll ever reveal what makes these wines so unique.

To be honest, I hope they don’t. Of course in some ways I’d love to know the secret. But sometimes the spectacle is all the more thrilling when the magicians don’t reveal how it’s done.

Tasting Reynaud’s legacy:

Related articles

• Matt Walls: Reflections on 2025 and his favourite Rhône wines of the year
• Rhône 2024 en primeur: Full report and the vintage’s top-scoring wines
• ‘Vieille Julienne’s Réservé is Grenache in excelsis’: Matt Walls on a Châteauneuf stand out

When you’re buying wines from a relatively lowly appellation such as Côtes du Rhône, does vintage really matter?

It does. In fact, you’re even more likely to feel the unalloyed effects of the vintage at this level compared to the more rarified crus.

Scroll down for the best of the Côtes du Rhône 2024 wines

The main reason for this is financial. The wine buying public has certain price expectations for generic appellations like this, so winemakers find it difficult to charge above a certain amount.

This means they can’t drastically reduce yields, for example, to counter the effects of bad weather. Neither can they apply flattering new oak, as barrels are so expensive.

One misconception about Côtes du Rhône wines is that they are mostly regional blends, which can reduce or blur the stamp of the vintage. Some negociant bottlings are of course, but almost all of the wines selected below are from independent wineries with their plantings close by. Many of them are from single vineyards in fact.

What can you expect from the 2024s?

Winemakers had a rough ride in 2024. Incessant rains during spring and early summer caused a host of problems, including poor fruit set (coulure) and outbreaks of downy mildew. August brought with it warm weather, but September and October were relatively cool.

Producers who managed to overcome the worst of the season’s challenges made approachable and elegant reds, a pleasant contrast to the rich, ripe 2023s and more structured 2022s. Where crop loads were too heavy, however, some lack full ripeness, and can taste green and thin. Whites are much more reliable this year.

Of the 71 Côtes du Rhône wines I tasted, 25 scored 90 points or above. This is a better result than I expected given the trials of the growing season, but the style of 2024 actually has a lot to offer at this level.

It’s a vintage that’s fresh, not too concentrated, with moderate alcohol – ideal for Côtes du Rhône reds that you want to drink straight away.

It’s also a year that clearly expresses terroir. Very hot years can accentuate fruit and varietal character over any sense of place in young wines. The best 2024s have vibrant acidities that bring immediate focus and precision to their flavours.

By their nature, extensive appellations like Côtes du Rhône will always be varied in style and quality; even more so in a tricky vintage like 2024. But choose with care in 2024 and there are plenty of brisk, vibrant wines to enjoy – and most of them are under £20 a bottle.

Top Côtes du Rhône 2024 wines to seek out:

Related articles

• Wines of the Year 2025: The Rhône, Champagne & regional France
• Matt Walls: Reflections on 2025 and his favourite Rhône wines of the year
• Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2024: Best picks from a fresh and vibrant bunch

Rhône Valley

From the five Rhône wines that scored 100 points throughout 2025, two make this list, from either end of the valley and from slightly older vintages: Clape’s 2010 Cornas and Château de Beaucastel’s 2014 white Châteauneuf.

Both are still on the market, so prospective buyers or those lucky enough to have them in their cellar will be richly rewarded. M Chapoutier’s white Hermitage L’Ermite is a fine showing from the tricky and varied 2024 vintage, which you can read about in our extensive en primeur coverage.

While 2024 Hermitage reds are less powerful than you might expect, it’s the whites that reign supreme. Château de Saint Cosme’s Le Claux warranted inclusion here, not just for its score of 97 points but also as a great representation of the heights that Gigondas continues to reach – and Saint Cosme is undoubtedly one of the best in the appellation.

Given that he’s a winemaker who has been cited as inspiration for other winemakers I’ve spoken to more times than I can count, Eric Pfifferling’s wines are still possible to come by, although they do sell out rather quickly.

A wine that is ‘tremulous and beautiful’, Domaine l’Anglore’s Tavel Les Sables simply had to make the cut for this year’s Wines of the Year selection.

Champagne & rest of France

In just a short time, young Adrien Dhondt has become a second generation Champagne paragon: his wines are some of the most sought-after in the region.

Les Nogers Cuis 1er Cru is included here for the impression it made on Champagne correspondent Tom Hewson, who profiled Champagne Dhondt-Grellet on Decanter Premium online in October 2025.

Meanwhile, the rosé Champagne category offers a panoply of styles and colours, but as they’re often priced above their white counterparts, they’re frequently overlooked and misunderstood.

The reality is there are plenty of serious rosé Champagnes that are exemplary wines in their own right, showing great technical finesse, impressive complexity and potential for long ageing.

Laurent-Perrier’s Alexandra rosé is the perfect example of this; an icon of its style. Beyond Champagne, it will come as no surprise to see the Loire’s Sauvignon stronghold Sancerre on this list.

The 2020 Les Ruchons from Henri Bourgeois was one of Beverley Blanning MW’s favourites in her exploration of Sancerre’s revival. Finally, it may seem quite the coup to feature Bandol and Corsica alongside these French stalwarts, yet it’s thoroughly well deserved.

Corsican wines are increasingly turning heads, with more making their way to UK shores. And in our panel tasting featuring Provence whites, Bandol stood out as the most exciting source appellation.

Wines of the year 2025: Rhône, Champagne and regional France:

Wines from the Rhône are listed first, then those from around France

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Champagne Dhondt-Grellet: The young grower at the top of his game

How would you like to work with your mum and dad? And then take over after they’ve stepped back? Five minutes spent thinking about this prospect will reveal, I suspect, the shock of the challenge. (I loved my mum and dad – but I’d have flunked.)

Not many of us, though, are born into small family businesses, where every nuance of our parents’ working lives provides the backdrop to our childhood. Fewer still into farming businesses, rooted in land, place, origin, a local culture, a partnership with the environment.

Fewer yet again into a farming business where the primary crop is not only grown but transformed, crafted, aged, packaged and sold, sometimes to a global marketplace. The life of a wine-grower is the life less ordinary. Imagine yourself into that life and you can see why the pull might be strong.

You’ll have watched the struggles of your parents and grandparents; you’ll know the intimacies of ownership, for better and worse. The domaine, the quinta or the tenuta isn’t just a business; it’s more like an eternal child, continually growing into something new, and requiring constant love and care to ensure that this process is successful.

The decision about what you do with your life is marbled with responsibility: can you really walk away from that child? Hence the fascination of the stories in the profiles that follow.

Relative success

I’ve spent 35 years meeting growers and watching the wine world unfold. I’m sure that, when successful, a family transmission can’t be bettered – for the land, for the wines, and for wine culture more broadly.

The Symington family in northern Portugal, the Humbrechts in Alsace and the Guigals in the northern Rhône are all splendid examples of what successful family transition makes possible.

We have to recognise, though, that luck plays its part. What if the older generation doesn’t know how to let go or step back? What if the talents and drive of the younger generation are very differently constituted to those of their parents – or even missing altogether?

And, increasingly nowadays, what if the pecuniary value of an estate brings family divisions, fiscal complications and outside interests into questions of transmission? For some wine estates, the path to a future of family ownership is a dauntingly narrow one, requiring great skill and forethought to navigate.

All the more reason, of course, to applaud those who succeed in it.

Andrew Jefford

Emma Amsellem-Vernay

Domaine Georges Vernay, Rhône, France

By Matt Walls

Christine Vernay and her daughter Emma (pictured above) have contrasting personalities: Christine is thoughtful and slightly mysterious, while Emma is animated and energetic. The family resemblance is plain to see, however, and they finish each other’s sentences.

Christine took over the estate from her father Georges in 1996. They never worked in tandem; she had to figure things out by herself.

‘When he died, eventually I felt the transmission, I felt nourished by him… It was a silent transmission, but it was real,’ she says. She wants the experience to be easier for her daughter. ‘With Emma, it’s an active transmission – it’s very different.’

Emma only decided to take on the estate at the age of 30. She had previously worked as a group wine buyer in Paris, and her retraining as a winemaker came as a pleasant surprise to Christine. Upon Emma’s return, her apprenticeship began.

Her mother might be teaching Emma how the winery functions, but Christine explains that it’s not a one-way street and that she is learning, too; ascertaining how to hand over, how to teach, how to transmit.

And ‘it’s a multifaceted transmission: as a mother, as a business owner, as a winemaker’.

Baptism of frost

Emma’s initial experience at the estate was by no means easy. She arrived in early 2021, a year marked by a hard frost that decimated Condrieu vineyards: ‘It was an infinite sadness to witness this disaster… “how can I handle this?” I asked myself.’ But looking back, she’s pleased that she endured this tough start, as it taught her resilience.

In running the estate today their roles overlap, but ‘I’m mostly vines, she’s mostly cellar’, says Emma. They discuss everything, and Emma can call on Christine’s experience if she has any doubts. There’s no fixed date for Christine to lay down her pipette permanently.

‘It’s not a job – it’s a life,’ says Christine. Emma has no desire to make any major changes or to expand the estate. She has been experimenting with biodynamic treatments, however, which she considers a logical progression of the work in the vineyards that her mother introduced.

‘Each generation faces its own set of problems,’ says Emma. ‘My great-grandfather planted the first vines, my grandfather saved Viognier and the appellation, my mother developed the reds and converted to organics.’

No doubt Emma’s challenge will make itself known in time. ‘We’re only passing through… I just want to contribute to the beauty of these hillsides and continue this work.’

Tom Barry

Jim Barry Wines, South Australia

By David Sly

The weight of family tradition doesn’t burden Tom Barry. As the third successive generation to lead the winemaking team at Jim Barry Wines in the Clare Valley, Tom keeps things simple.

‘In truth, I never think too much about historical expectations,’ he says. ‘Instead, I just focus on getting the fundamentals right with every vintage.’ It works.

Tom’s ability to capture fresh, vibrant flavours while maintaining respect for classic wine styles is steering a new era of success for Jim Barry Wines. It builds on foundations laid by Jim Barry, the first qualified winemaker in Clare who obtained his oenology degree in 1947 and worked for big wine companies before releasing the first Jim Barry wines in 1974.

Jim’s son Peter took over the company reins as managing director from 1985, and has now handed over control of operations to his children, with sons Tom as winemaker and Sam as commercial manager, and daughter Olivia as brand ambassador.

Learning on the job

Peter Barry opted for a gentle generational transition. First, he gave his sons responsibility for making and marketing Clos Clare wines (sourced from part of the Florita vineyard, owned by the Barry family) and The Barry Bros red wine blend.

It soon led to Tom making more winemaking decisions for the Jim Barry Wines portfolio. ‘The main changes I’ve brought have been in the vineyard, placing greater attention to detail in vine health and management, to bring better quality fruit into the winery,’ he says.

By 2013, at the age of 27, Tom was named Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine’s Young Winemaker of the Year, yet he still saw himself as part of a team at Jim Barry Wines, rather than its leader.

‘Dad showed a lot of faith in allowing us to make decisions without the added pressure of just handing over the reins,’ he says. ‘I’d been learning on the job since I started as a cellar hand in 2007, and with every step I grew and learned. ‘By the time I’d finished my winemaking studies, I felt ready to challenge things and introduce some of my own ideas.’

By 2022, Tom was recognised as head of winemaking, coinciding with the 60th anniversary of Jim Barry Wines. His experience doing vintages in Germany and Austria has seen him adopt new techniques to build heightened aromas and finesse in outstanding Rieslings, while he also promotes elegance through restrained oak in a diverse range of red wines, from the mighty old-vine The Armagh Shiraz, to a clever revival of a rich Cabernet Malbec blend, first made famous by Tom’s grandfather.

‘I’m not rewriting history,’ he offers, ‘just adding to it.’

Next instalment: Chiara de Iulis Pepe & Catherine Kistler

Wines from a new generation:

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Champagne Dhondt-Grellet: The young grower at the top of his game

Of all the many thousands of wines tasted by Decanter every year, only a small handful ever gain the very highest score of 100.

This year, in fact, a mere 30 wines (tasted between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025) gained that coveted triple-digit score. In the immortal words of Cilla Black, let’s look at what they are and where they come from.

Top-scorers by country

As two countries that feature heavily both online and in print, the bulk of this year’s top-scoring wines came from France and the US.

France had the higher number of 100-point scores by far – 15 wines (50%) versus 12 (40%) from the US – while Italy with two 100-point wines and Australia with just one made up the difference.

Top-scorers by region

Drilling down into the regions things get a little more interesting. We can see that the French wines are split among several regions, with Bordeaux taking the largest share of 100-point wines (nine wines overall or 30% of the total).

However, the largest single region for top scores was California, with 11 wines (36.7%) that received a 100-point score.

The Rhône Valley was the third most-awarded region with five (16.7%) of the top scores, while Western Australia, Burgundy, Oregon, Tuscany and Piedmont all picked up one perfect score apiece.

Top-scorers by appellation

The most-awarded appellation overall was the Napa Valley, which had 10 wines with a 100-point score (mostly from one standout vintage, which was also the case with many of the Bordeaux wines as we’ll explore below).

There were three wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape as the second highly rated appellation – though probably not wines you would expect – followed by Cornas, Pauillac, Pessac-Léognan, Pomerol and St-Emilion which all had two 100-point scores this past year.

The remaining appellations were Barolo, La Tâche, Margaret River, Margaux, Sonoma County, Toscana, and Willamette Valley with one 100-point wine apiece.

And now let’s briefly look at those wines.

France

Bordeaux

Many of the vintage reports published this year have focused on the very difficult 2024 vintage, which has not yielded many exceptional wines overall.

However, Bordeaux editor Georgie Hindle also reviewed the recently bottled and shipped 2022 vintage from Bordeaux which was a different story altogether.

In her report published in March, she said of the vintage: ‘The 2022s have emerged as wines out to please. As a group they are highly charged and powerful with an impressive amount of fruit, tannins and alcohol, yet they are refined and balanced with a sense of classicism.’

She gave six wines a score of 100-points – three each from the left and right banks.

She also gave a perfect score to the ‘monumental’ 2016 vintage of Château Latour, finally released from the estate’s cellars this spring.

Two wines from the 2015 vintage, Château Margaux and Château Lafleur confirmed in their majesty 10 years on.

Rhône Valley

Matt Walls covers the Rhône extensively for Decanter and this February he wrote about an especially memorable tasting at Château de Beaucastel in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, which yielded three 100-point wines.

These were not the estate’s reds though – but rather its ‘masterpiece’ of a white wine, the Roussanne Vieilles Vignes.

Tasted while scenes from Netflix’s Drops of God adaptation were filmed in the background, Walls was thoroughly seduced by what he calls ‘one of France’s greatest Mediterranean whites’, with many high scores given including three digits for three vintages: 2020, 2014 and 1988.

There was room for a couple of top-scoring reds though, notably two 2010 Cornas from Domaine Clape and Vincent Paris, which are among Walls’s favourite vintages from that appellation to drink now.

Burgundy

For a region with such a sterling reputation, there was just one wine that claimed a ‘perfect’ score in 2025. Maybe the standards of expectation from the Côte d’Or are that much higher?

Nonetheless, the unsurprising top-scorer was from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, with the domaine’s La Tâche 2022 getting the seal of approval from Charles Curtis MW during his in-bottle tasting this spring.

US

Napa Valley

Like Bordeaux, the bulk of top scores for Napa Valley this year came from the 2022 vintage, which was also not necessarily a straightforward growing season but from which some true gems have emerged.

Jonathan Cristaldi wrote in his report: ‘Compared to more structured, long-ageing vintages such as 2021 or 2019, the 2022s are approachable, plush and opulent.

‘Tannin structure varies, with some wines showcasing excellent granular grip and ageing potential while others exhibit a smoother, more fruit-driven profile that leans toward early drinking.’

Cristaldi ultimately gave six wines from the 2022 vintage 100 points, alongside another four from the 2021 – giving Napa its rather awesome tally of 10 top-scores this year.

Sonoma and Willamette Valley

The only US wines breaking Napa’s stranglehold on the crown were a Pinot Noir and Chardonnay duo.

In her report on the wines from the Sonoma Coast in 2022 (there’s that vintage again), Ana Carolina Quintela gave 100-points to the Cuvée Elizabeth Pinot Noir from Occidental. A true ‘wow-moment wine’ she noted.

And our North America editor, Clive Pursehouse, awarded his very first 100-point wine to the ‘captivating’ Bethel Heights’ The High Wire Chardonnay 2023 from Willamette Valley in Oregon.

Best of the rest

Italy

A rather diplomatic split of one 100-point score each for Italy’s premier regions of Piedmont and Tuscany this year.

Michaela Morris dished out a top-score to Giacomo Conterno’s Montfortino Riserva 2019 in her review of that newly-released batch of wines.

And Italy editor, James Button, couldn’t help but give 100-points to the ‘impeccably harmonious and long-lived’ 2006 Masseto during a vertical of the Super Tuscan at the start of the year.

Australia

And to wrap things up, while reviewing the wines being released through La Place de Bordeaux this autumn, Hindle gave top marks to the Cloudburst Chardonnay from Margaret River.

She wrote: ‘Round, utterly moreish from the first sip – this is engaging, mouthwatering, alive and so utterly enjoyable. I’d never tire of drinking this wine.’

Decanter’s 100-point wines of 2025:

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‘This is my first 100-point wine after nearly 4,000 in my three years at Decanter’

Last year’s calendar goes in the bin; this year’s, freshly peeled from its cellophane wrapper, is fixed to the wall.

The reassuring customs of Christmas and New Year lend a steadying hand through this time of endings and new beginnings.

One tradition I like to keep is counting down my top 10 wines of the year. The most memorable wines, those that have moved me, those that have made the greatest impression. Counting my blessings.

This year the process brought some painful recent closures into focus. But it also flagged up hopeful new beginnings.

Farewells

Let’s start with the losses.

On 18 November I was honoured to host a tasting of 12 wines made by Emmanuel Reynaud of Château Rayas.

A week later, he was no longer with us. I could easily have filled this list with those wines; instead, I’ll dedicate an article to the tasting early next year.

Two days after Emmanuel, Peter Fraser of Yangarra in McLaren Vale also passed away, aged just 51. He made some of the finest Grenache I’ve ever tasted. I wish he could have made more.

And in June, we lost Pierre Clape of Domaine Clape. He was a teacher before he joined his father Auguste in the vineyards. No one taught me more about Cornas than he did.

For estates touched by tragedy, it will take time for those left behind to find pleasure or excitement in the new.

New beginnings

The birth of a new cuvée feels insignificant by comparison. But for estates launching a new wine, it’s a cause for cautious optimism.

In fact, we can easily underestimate what a new bottling means to a producer. A new label often hides years of rumination and experimentation. Winemakers agonise over blends, barrels, the cuvée name – any number of details.

And what if their customers reject their new creation, into which they’ve poured so much care and consideration? Releasing a new cuvée takes courage.

Especially when your product goes against the grain. In the 1980s, Châteauneuf-du-Pape estates traditionally made just one red wine, and perhaps a white.

But in 1986, François Perrin at Château de Beaucastel bottled an old vine selection of pure Roussanne. It was fascinating to taste that first vintage again this year; four decades on, it’s still going strong. How right he was.

More recently, brothers David and Benjamin Duclaux in Côte-Rôtie starting bottling a single vineyard Coteaux de Tupin.

I revisited their first vintage again this year, the 2018. Their 2019 is arguably even better, but there’s something special about tasting the first iteration of a wine; a bold decision vindicated.

Every time I open one I want to pat them on the back.

I tasted it with David’s son Matteo, who had just joined the estate. More green shoots worth celebrating.

Another first on my list is from Domaine l’Anglore. In 2023 it bottled two new single-vineyard Tavels, named Vaucrose and Les Sables; wines that represent confident steps forward as this appellation gradually regains its former glory.

For many of us, Christmas is a time for both looking back and looking forward.

It’s also a time to share our most treasured bottles with people we love. We have winemakers like these – both past and present – to thank for that.

Matt’s favourite Rhône wines of 2025

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On the west bank of the Rhône river, whites and rosés lead the pack, with a good showing from Tavel this year.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top-scoring Lirac & Tavel wines

Thibaut Pfifferling of Domaine l’Anglore describes the growing season as ‘a big battle,’ resulting in very small yields but well balanced wines with ‘not much acidity, but good salinity’.

It’s an appellation that improves from year to year, with an increasing number of characterful wines to explore.

Lirac’s whites are very consistent, combining fullness and freshness to good effect – there are many good value options to consider.

Laudun, the Rhône’s newest cru, is still finding its way; whites are generally better than reds.

See all Lirac wines tasted

See all Tavel wines tasted

Key Lirac & Tavel producers in 2024

• Domaine l’Anglore – Tavel
• Château d’Aqueria – Lirac
• Château de Montfaucon – Lirac

Best-value Lirac & Tavel wines in 2024

• Château d’Aqueria, Lirac blanc 2024
• Alain Jaume & Fils, Domaine Clos de Sixte, Lirac rouge 2024
• Château Saint-Roch, Tradition, Lirac rouge 2024

Compare vintages: See coverage from previous years

Lirac & Tavel 2023: Report and top-scoring wines

Lirac & Tavel 2022: Report and top-scoring wines

Lirac & Tavel 2021: Report and top-scoring wines

See the full Rhône 2024 vintage report

Top-scoring Lirac & Tavel wines in 2024

Wines rated 97+ are featured in the main report

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Gigondas is undoubtedly the most successful appellation in 2024.

The reds have tension, good acidity and plentiful fine tannins. A standout producer this year is Julien Brechet of Domaine des Bosquets and he describes 2024 as ‘a very honest vintage,’ meaning that it’s highly expressive of terroir, detailed and precise.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for these regions’ best wines

The tannins aren’t muscular, they’re fine and pixellated; they can be a little angular in places however, requiring a few years in bottle to file them down.

Gigondas whites are even better. The style can be quite challenging though: they are all about texture and minerality, and will take a few years to open up, so take note of drinking windows. When they’re ready, they’ll be detailed and attention grabbing.

Neighbouring Beaumes de Venise also did very well in 2024. The reds have real impact and brightness of fruit, and are mostly well balanced.

The sweet Muscats have good acidity and moderate alcohol – a vintage to buy if you like the style.

Further down the slope in Vacqueyras, Damien Vache of Domaine la Monardière says that growers here were relatively unaffected by mildew.

The reds are medium-bodied, well balanced and drinkable, though some lack concentration.

Whites varied stylistically, but the quality is largely good.

See all Gigondas wines tasted

See all Vacqueyras wines tasted

See all Beaumes de Venise wines tasted

Key Gigondas, Vacqueyras & Beaumes de Venise producers in 2024

• Château de St Cosme – Gigondas
• Domaine des Bosquets – Gigondas
• Domaine Saint-Damien – Gigondas
• Domaine Santa Duc – Gigondas
• Moulin de la Gardette – Gigondas
• Domaine Le Sang des Cailloux – Vacqueyras
• Domaine des Bernardins – Beaumes de Venise

Best-value Gigondas, Vacqueyras & Beaumes de Venise wines in 2024

• Le Clos des Cazaux, Les Clefs d’Or, Vacqueyras 2024
• Domaine des Bernardins, Beaumes de Venise 2024

Compare vintages: See coverage from previous years

Gigondas, Vacqueyras & Beaumes de Venise 2023: Report and top-scoring wines

Gigondas, Vacqueyras & Beaumes de Venise 2022: Report and top-scoring wines

Gigondas, Vacqueyras & Beaumes de Venise 2021: Report and top-scoring wines

See the full Rhône 2024 vintage report

Gigondas, Vacqueyras & Beaumes de Venise wines in 2024

Wines rated 97+ are featured in the main report

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It’s a decent vintage for reds in both Cairanne and Rasteau. In Cairanne, the wines are precise and drinkable thanks to their bright acidity and measured levels of alcohol.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top-scoring wines

Most don’t have the structure or concentration for long ageing, but they can be opened straight away and will likely give four or five years of enjoyment.

The whites might not be as reliable as in other appellations this year, but there are still many good wines to choose from.

Rasteau’s dry reds are in a similar quality and style to Cairanne’s. When the tannins are ripe and there’s sufficient concentration, the 2024s offer elegance and drinkability.

The limited selection of Vinsobres I tasted were less exciting, so there are just a few that made the selection.

See all Rasteau wines tasted

See all Cairanne wines tasted

See all Vinsobres wines tasted

Key Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres producers in 2024

• Domaine de l’Oratoire St Martin – Cairanne
• Domaine les Hautes Cances – Cairanne
• Domaine Alary – Cairanne
• Domaine Richaud – Cairanne
• Domaine des Escaravailles – Rasteau
• Famille Perrin – Vinsobres

Best-value Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres wines in 2024

• Domaine des Escaravailles, Classique, Rasteau 2024
• Brotte, Création Grosset, Cairanne 2024
• Famille Perrin, Les Cornuds, Vinsobres 2024

Compare vintages: See coverage from previous years

Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres 2023: Report and top-scoring wines

Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres 2022: Report and top-scoring wines

Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres 2021: Report and top-scoring wines

Beyond the crus

From the Named Villages of the Côtes du Rhône, there are several impressively fresh and concentrated reds from both Sablet and Valréas.

There are also thrilling individual wines from overperforming estates in Roaix, Massif d’Uchaux and Suze-la-Rousse. These under-the-radar gems represent some of the best value wines in the Rhône.

It’s clearly a very good vintage for Rolle (Vermentino), making for an exceptional year for Luberon whites.

With so many examples enjoying great balance and intensity – and no excess fat or alcohol – it’s the perfect vintage to explore this lesser-known style.

The whites of neighbouring Ventoux are also excellent, not to mention many of its reds, especially those from more elevated vineyards.

The best Côtes du Rhônes will be covered in a separate column on Decanter Premium in January.

See the full Rhône 2024 vintage report

Top-scoring Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres wines in 2024

Wines rated 97+ are featured in the main report

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• Rhône producer to know: Domaine Gramenon, Vinsobres

In a year such as 2024, it’s best to start with the positives.

The better red Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines this year are fresh and vibrant, with good acidity and relatively low alcohol. They are defined and transparent, and speak clearly of their terroir.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines in 2024

They aren’t as exaggerated as some recent hotter vintages, and have a more natural sense of balance. If you’re looking for powerful Châteauneuf-du-Pape, you might prefer 2022 or 2023; the 2024s are more about elegance.

But not all are so successful. A good proportion of them lack concentration or have green tannins.

In some quarters, high crop loads were the problem. September wasn’t warm enough to ripen all the grapes. Elsewhere, mildew damaged leaves, impeding photosynthesis.

It was a complicated season, where growers had to be reactive to succeed.

The whites are exceptionally good, however. They have it all: freshness, intensity, moderate alcohol, minerality, drinkability and ageing potential.

You can almost buy the whites blind in 2024. But not the reds.

See all Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines tasted

Key Châteauneuf-du-Pape producers in 2024

• Château de Beaucastel
• Clos des Papes
• Domaine de Beaurenard
• Domaine de la Janasse
• Domaine de la Vieille Julienne

Best-value Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines in 2024

• Château de la Font du Loup, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, 2024
• Domaine de Beaurenard, Tradition, Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2024
• Domaine Raymond Usseglio, Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2024

Compare vintages: See coverage from previous years

Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2023: Report and top-scoring wines

Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2022: Report and top-scoring wines

Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2021: Report and top-scoring wines

See the full Rhône 2024 vintage report

Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines in 2024

Wines rated 97+ are featured in the main report

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Despite the trials of the growing season, St-Joseph has delivered a surprisingly consistent set of wines.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for St-Joseph wines

The reds are light- to medium-bodied, tense and spicy.

I can’t remember the last time I detected so much black pepper in the wines – a welcome effect of cooler conditions.

The tannins in many of the wines are fine and elegant, in contrast to 2022’s beefier wines. Though some are a little weedy, it’s essentially a very drinkable and refreshing vintage thanks in part to low levels of alcohol.

Most will be best drunk young, to enjoy their fragrance and delicacy.

If anything the whites are even better. While the reds are lean and fresh, the whites are relatively rich and opulent. Acidity levels can be on the low side, but most are very enjoyable and speak clearly of their origins.

Jean Gonon, who works organically, says that he had to spray the vines even more in 2024 than 2021, which was notoriously tough and beset with bad weather. But 2024 is a better year.

‘In 2021, it rained and then it was grey,’ he says ‘in 2024, there was brightness between the rains. And the light is important.’

See all St-Joseph wines tasted

Key St-Joseph producers in 2024

• Domaine Benoît Roseau
• Domaine Bernard Gripa
• Domaine Coursodon
• Domaine Gonon
• Domaine Jean-Louis Chave
• M Chapoutier
• Pierre-Jean Villa

Best-value St-Joseph wines in 2024

• Benoît Roseau, Sur le Quartz, St-Joseph Blanc 2024
• Benoît Roseau, La Ribaude, St-Joseph Rouge 2024
• Domaine Coursodon, Olivaie, St-Joseph Rouge 2024
• Jeanne Gaillard, La Relève, St-Joseph Rouge 2024

Compare vintages: See coverage from previous years

St-Joseph 2023: Report and top-scoring wines

St-Joseph 2022: Report and top-scoring wines

St-Joseph 2021: Report and top-scoring wines

See the full Rhône 2024 vintage report

St-Joseph wines in 2024

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In tough vintages, it’s often Crozes-Hermitage that suffers the most.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Crozes-Hermitage wines

While not as bad as calamitous years such as 2014 and 2021, 2024 ‘was psychologically and physically difficult,’ says Guillaume Sorrel of Domaine Marc Sorrel, ‘a vintage we don’t want to repeat’.

There was incessant rain in the spring, and the appellation struggled in the wet weather, especially on flatter vineyards where water can collect. Vineyards on slopes tend to fare better.

Organic growers faced particularly difficult dilemmas, with the threat of rot and mildew, with many having to carry out a record number of treatments in the vineyards

Many of the reds are dilute, and lacking in length and generosity.

There are some exceptions, however, particularly those from the north of the appellation around the village of Larnage. But it’s important to choose your Crozes-Hermitage carefully in 2024.

It’s not all bad news, however. Thankfully there are some very good whites.

With bright natural acidity and no excess flab or richness, this is a vintage that combines freshness and amplitude. Many of the wines are therefore nervy, savoury and balanced. There are many good-value options to explore.

See all Crozes-Hermitage wines tasted

Key Crozes-Hermitage producers

• Domaine Belle
• Domaine Marc Sorrel
• M Chapoutier

Best-value Crozes-Hermitage wines

• Chapoutier, Sicamor, Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2024
• Domaine Mucyn, Les Charmeuses, Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2024
• Domaine Vendome, Les Bruclas, Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2024
• Domaine Belle,Les Pierrelles, Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2024
• Domaine Combier, Cuvée L, Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2024

Compare vintages: See coverage from previous years

Crozes-Hermitage 2023: Report and top-scoring wines

Crozes-Hermitage 2022: Report and top-scoring wines

Crozes-Hermitage 2021: Report and top-scoring wines

See the full Rhône 2024 vintage report

Crozes-Hermitage wines in 2024

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‘In 2022 and 2023, Côte-Rôtie had the advantage,’ says Maxime Chapoutier. ‘But in 2024 – Hermitage is back!’

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Hermitage wines

There are some very good red Hermitage wines this year in an elegant, fresh and appealing style, following a cool, wet end to the growing season.

That being said, some don’t quite have the power you might expect from this renowned appellation.

Jean-Louis Chave, of his eponymous domaine which is based in the village of Mauves just south and across the river from Tain-l’Hermitage, believes that 2023 is a better vintage in general, ‘but the best 2024s are as good as the best 2023s,’ he says.

While only good for red Hermitage, this is an excellent vintage for its whites.

They’re unusually consistent; in fact, it’s hard to go wrong with white Hermitage this year, so you can buy confidently from many producers in this appellation.

What impresses is the sheer verve and dynamism of the wines, teamed with the natural breadth and richness of this terroir. They will drink well young and age well too.

See all Hermitage wines tasted

Key Hermitage producers in 2024

• Château de St Cosme
• Domaine Belle
• Domaine Jean-Louis Chave
• Domaine Marc Sorrel
• Emmanuel Darnaud
• M Chapoutier

Best-value Hermitage wines in 2024

• Cave de Tain, Au Coeur des Siècles, Hermitage 2024
• Domaine des Remizières, Cuvée Emilie, Hermitage 2024

Compare vintages: See coverage from previous years

Hermitage 2023: Report and top-scoring wines

Hermitage 2022: Report and top-scoring wines

Hermitage 2021: Report and top-scoring wines

See the full Rhône 2024 vintage report

Hermitage wines in 2024

Wines rated 97+ are featured in the main report

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Early years at Château des Tours

Emmanuel spent his early winemaking career in Sarrians at the family’s Vacqueyras estate, Château des Tours.

This property was obtained by Emmanuel’s grandfather Louis Reynaud in the 1930s, who had entrusted it to Emmanuel’s father, Bertrand Reynaud, who in turn handed it to Emmanuel.

Emmanuel helped build the winery at Château des Tours in 1989; until then, the fruit was delivered to a local co-operative.

It was at Château des Tours that he made his first wines and honed his style.

Taking on Rayas and Fonsalette

During this time, the family’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape estate, Château Rayas, was managed by Emmanuel’s uncle, Jacques Reynaud.

Following Jacques’ sudden death in 1997, Château Rayas, and the family’s other property, Château de Fonsalette (located further north in the village of Lagarde-Paréol), were passed down to Emmanuel. He continued to manage Château des Tours alongside them.

Emmanuel was a discreet man who prioritised the close management of his three estates over travelling the world to promote his wines. He didn’t have to: the world came to him. Or at least it tried to; securing a visit at Château Rayas has always been notoriously difficult.

Emmanuel didn’t tolerate lateness and he didn’t suffer fools gladly. But he could be welcoming to those learning the profession.

I remember the first time I visited Emmanuel at Rayas. During the first half of the visit he was combative, asking pointed questions about my motivation for visiting and my understanding of the Rhône. Once I had passed the test – and it did feel like a test – he was cheerful and friendly. From that point on he was always welcoming.

An inimitable style

Emmanuel stamped his unmistakable winemaking signature across all of his wines, and winemakers around the world have cited him as an inspiration. Especially those working with Grenache, the most important grape variety in all of his three estates.

Although much imitated, Emmanuel’s style has never been truly mastered by anyone else; it remains unique in the world of wine. So much so, his wines can often be identified by their aroma alone – an ineffable perfume combining strawberries, honey, rose petals, mint and dried herbs.

No wonder they became so keenly sought after, fetching some of the highest prices for Rhône wines at auction.

They might be easy to identify, but quite how he achieved such heights is less clear. He was always the last to pick in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, favouring very ripe grapes, and liked to wait until after the rain before harvesting. He extracted very lightly and never used new oak. But he wisely kept his biggest secrets to himself.

Rayas has always been a mysterious estate. Emmanuel helped to perpetuate the legend – and the quality.

The Decanter team sends its condolences to his wife and children.

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During my en primeur tastings in October this year, I ask Franck Balthazar what he thinks of the 2024 vintage.

‘I love it,’ he says, and to taste his wines you immediately see why. It’s the kind of vintage that really chimes with his fragrant, elegant style of Cornas.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Cornas & St-Péray

According to Olivier Clape, ‘it looks more like an old-school vintage, less big and impressive, but more detailed’.

Here, like elsewhere in Cornas, it’s a return to a more measured style that’s more about classicism than exuberance or power.

Some wines are a touch dilute and lack breadth, but most have energy and freshness, often accompanied by a herbal note to the aromatic profile.

Most will be approachable young, and apart from a few notable exceptions, this isn’t a vintage for long ageing, so pay attention to the drinking windows advised.

See all Cornas 2024 wines tasted

See all St-Péray 2024 wines tasted

Key Cornas & St-Péray producers in 2024

• Frank Balthazar – Cornas
• Domaine Clape – Cornas
• M Chapoutier – St-Péray
• Domaine Bernard Gripa – St-Péray

Best-value Cornas & St-Péray wines in 2024

• Chapoutier, Haut Chamblard, St-Péray 2024
• Domaine Johann Michel, St-Péray 2024
• Domaine Courbis, Champelrose, Cornas 2024

Compare vintages: See coverage from previous years

Cornas & St-Péray 2023: Report and top-scoring wines

Cornas & St-Péray 2022: Report and top-scoring wines

Cornas & St-Péray 2021: Report and top-scoring wines

See the full Rhône 2024 vintage report

Cornas & St-Péray wines in 2024

Wines rated 97+ are featured in the main report

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Conditions were challenging throughout the Rhône Valley in 2024, but the northern pole of the northern Rhône struggled the most.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for wines from Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu

Quality is heterogeneous in Côte-Rôtie. Rather than single-vineyard wines, it was the blends that often showed best.

In fact, Stéphane Ogier won’t be making his single-vineyard Côte-Rôties this year; ‘It’s a fresher vintage,’ he says, ‘and they have their place.’

Yields were very varied even within individual parcels, and several estates said they had to chaptalise.

This being said, there are some lovely individual wines, in a delicate, compact style. These should largely be best drunk young. But overall, this isn’t a brilliant vintage for Côte-Rôtie.

Though white wines are often excellent in 2024, across both the northern and southern Rhône, the picture in Condrieu is mixed. Although many are largely fresh and balanced, some lack enough concentration and length.

The best wines are head and shoulders above the rest however, showing intensity, vitality and no excess alcohol. It will pay to do your research in this vintage.

See all Côte-Rôtie 2024 wines tasted

See all Condrieu 2024 wines tasted

Key Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu producers in 2024

• M Chapoutier – Condrieu
• Domaine Merlin – Condrieu
• Pierre-Jean Villa – Condrieu
• Domaine JP Jamet – Côte-Rôtie
• E Guigal – Côte-Rôtie

Best-value Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu wines in 2024

• Roland Grangier, Les Combéluz, Condrieu 2024
• Mouton Père et Fils, Côte Bonnette, Condrieu 2024
• François et Fils, Rozier, Côte-Rôtie 2024
• Domaine Billon Christophe, La Brocarde, Côte-Rôtie 2024

Compare vintages: See our coverage of Côte-Rôtie and Condrieu from previous years

Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu 2023: Report and top-scoring wines

Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu 2022: Report and top-scoring wines

Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu 2021: Report and top-scoring wines

See the full Rhône 2024 vintage report

Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu wines in 2024

Wines rated 97+ are featured in the main report

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Rhône 2024 en primeur vintage rating:

Northern Rhône 2024: 3.5/5

The whites are excellent, but it’s a lighter red vintage for the reds, offering many well-balanced, fresh and immediate wines, largely for drinking young and into the medium term. Some reds lack full ripeness, particularly in Côte-Rôtie.

Southern Rhône 2024: 3.5/5

A juicy, fresh and balanced vintage with only moderate alcohol, though some reds lack concentration. Reds are particularly strong in Gigondas. Whites are excellent throughout the region.

In the context of the past 10 years, the 2024 vintage in the Rhône is an outlier.

With many recent vintages being marked by heat and drought, 2024 feels like a throwback to an earlier age, one before global warming. It’s like a good vintage from the 1990s – balanced, fresh and drinkable.

The 2024s offer bright acidity, moderate alcohol and aromatic precision.

Is it a ‘Great Vintage’? No; it’s a respectable vintage full of wines that you can enjoy immediately for their tension and vibrancy.

The reds are unlikely to shut down as they age, and the whites are reliably excellent throughout the Rhône Valley.

This vintage is not without its shortcomings. The growing season was extremely challenging and as a result some wines lack concentration. Most aren’t built for long ageing.

But while the overall level is good rather than great, there are a host of wines which transcend the vintage to reach peaks of genuine excellence.

Northern Rhône red wine of the vintage:

M Chapoutier, Le Pavillon, Hermitage 2024

Northern Rhône white wine of the vintage:

Domaine JL Chave, Hermitage 2024

Southern Rhône red wine of the vintage:

Château de St-Cosme, Le Poste, Gigondas 2024

Southern Rhône white wine of the vintage:

Clos des Papes, Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2024

See all Rhône 2024 tasting notes and scores

Northern Rhône 2024

‘We had English weather up until July!’ says Yann Chave (of his eponymous domaine), referring to the incessant rain they suffered in Crozes-Hermitage during spring and into summer. ‘August saved the vintage,’ he says, ‘otherwise it would have been a catastrophe.’

A mild winter was followed by early budbreak, but then the weather turned cool and wet in April. In Cornas, Olivier Clape (of Domaine Clape) had 600mm of rain from April to July (820mm is the yearly average).

This created a horde of problems throughout the northern Rhône, including uneven ripening and poor fruit set (millerandage and coulure), not to mention downy mildew and black rot. Occurring towards the start of the season, it affected yields more than quality.

It was particularly difficult for those working organically, such as Domaine Gonon, as they had fewer mitigation options in their armoury. Jean Gonon says that they had to carry out a record number of treatments in the vineyard in 2024 – something echoed by Clape and others.

The rains often came on Thursdays and Fridays, which made the situation even more exhausting as estates had to spray during weekends – if they could. Thankfully there was bright weather between the showers, unlike the even gloomier 2021 vintage.

The sun finally arrived and dried out the vineyards in August. Though hot, the mercury didn’t rise above 40°C, and the ground contained enough water to sustain the vines. September turned cool and windy. With rain forecast, some were forced to pick earlier than they would have liked.

Highs and lows

Cool, wet weather at the end of the season was just one cause of the lack of concentration and a herbaceous streak in some of the reds. Mildew-affected vines and excessive crop loads were others. Occasional use of unripe stems was a contributing factor, too.

The more southerly red appellations (Hermitage, Cornas and southern St-Joseph) were the most successful in 2024.

Côte-Rôtie saw the worst of the weather, and the wines are more disappointing – though with some notable exceptions.

Crozes-Hermitage also struggled; vineyards on the slopes tend to fare better in wet weather.

White wines are excellent throughout. There are countless wonderful Marsanne/Roussanne wines to choose from, and many good Viogniers from Condrieu, though with fewer flashes of brilliance.

This won’t be the longest-lived vintage for reds. Neither will you have to wait; with relatively delicate tannic structures, the majority will be ready to drink on release or soon after.

Considering the trials that growers faced in 2024, it’s surprising that so many made such good wines – many people were surprised at how well they’d turned out. Including me.

Key northern Rhône producers in 2024

• Domaine Belle
• Domaine Clape
• Domaine Gonon
• Frank Balthazar
• Jean-Louis Chave
• M Chapoutier

Top value northern Rhône 2024

• Domaine Vendome, Les Bruclas, Crozes-Hermitage 2024
• Benoît Roseau, Sur le Quartz, St-Joseph 2024
• François et Fils, Rozier, Côte-Rôtie 2024
• Benoît Roseau, La Ribaude, St-Joseph 2024

Southern Rhône 2024

Weather conditions were similar in the northern and southern Rhône in 2024, and the wines display a similar style: good acidity, moderate alcohol, fresh and drinkable – but sometimes lacking concentration.

Growers report a nerve-wracking start to the year. ‘It was difficult from the beginning…we nearly lost the vintage,’ says César Perrin of Château de Beaucastel. ‘There was mildew before flowering – that’s the worst’.

He’s pleased with the final results though, calling it ‘an elegant vintage, more drinkable than 2023 and 2022’.

The downy mildew was more localised compared to the northern Rhône; parts of Châteauneuf-du-Pape were hit hard, whereas other appellations, such as Vacqueyras, got away relatively unscathed.

The Grenache was also badly hit by coulure, which further reduced yields – it was a small crop in the south this year. Mourvèdre, however, performed well.

The two heat spikes in August drew a line under the poor weather at the start of the season. Two storms in early September and one towards the end of the month raised the spectre of rot, but thankfully the mistral arrived and dried out the vines.

The cool weather that followed made for a gradual accrual of tannins and a relaxed harvest, typically in mid-October.

Bright spots

For red wines, Gigondas stands out in 2024. Perrin says there was less rain and more wind compared to Châteauneuf, meaning growers could wait even later to pick, resulting in better levels of ripeness.

In fact, all appellations situated in and around the Dentelles de Montmirail fared well, including Beaumes de Venise, Côtes du Rhône named Villages such as Sablet and Séguret, and parts of Ventoux.

It was also a good vintage for Vacqueyras, and there are plenty of strong individual wines from Châteauneuf.

White wines are excellent throughout all appellations – in fact it’s a stronger year for whites than reds. There are countless impressive examples from Châteauneuf and Gigondas, and some beautiful rosés from Tavel.

When I visited the Rhône Valley in October this year, winemakers couldn’t contain their excitement and enthusiasm for the 2025 vintage that they’d just picked.

Early impressions suggest a contrast to 2024: concentrated, structured wines for long ageing. It’s a very small vintage, but you’re likely to want some.

The 2024s will provide some deliciously fresh and crunchy wines to drink while you wait for the 2025s to come round.

Key southern Rhône producers in 2024

• Château de Beaucastel
• Clos des Papes
• Domaine de Beaurenard
• Château de St Cosme
• Domaine Santa Duc
• Domaine l’Anglore
• Domaine des Escaravailles
• Domaine la Cabotte
• Château La Borie

Top value southern Rhône 2024

• Château de la Font du Loup, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, 2024
• Le Clos des Cazaux, Les Clefs d’Or, Vacqueyras 2024
• Château la Borie, Syrah, Côtes du Rhône Villages Suze la Rousse 2024
• Domaine Elodie Balme, Champs Libres, Côtes du Rhône Villages Roaix 2024

Top-scoring Rhône 2024 wines:

See below the 30 highest scoring wines, listed white then red in score order.

Related articles

• The 12 best Cornas wines to drink now or save for later
• Eight top Rhône wines to buy in the supermarket
• Northern Rhône 2015: Panel tasting results

The Rhône Valley runs south from Lyon to the Rhône Delta, a length of approximately 150 miles.

It is divided stylistically and geographically into northern and southern parts, the former much smaller and more focussed in design, while the latter is much larger and accommodates a wider range of grape varieties.

In the north, Syrah dominates in red wine, while Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne are grown for white wines.

In the south, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is famous for allowing 22 varieties, ranging from Grenache and Syrah to Picpoul, Picardan and Terret Noir.

There’s a lot of variation, but in other southern appellations a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre might be considered the most typical – even giving birth to the Australian ‘GSM’ style.

The Côtes du Rhône and Côtes du Rhône Villages appellations accounted for 57% of the region’s total production in 2025.

There's something for all tastes among our Rhône Valley coverage: our Rhône correspondent Matt Walls has all bases covered with twice-monthly online articles and regular magazine features.

You'll find in depth analysis and on-the-ground reporting of each new vintage; producer close-ups; explorations of both traditional and brand new domaines; travel inspiration; stories of people and place; and regional guides.

From Côte-Rôtie to St-Joseph, Hermitage to St-Péray, down through Cairanne, Lirac, Rasteau, or Tavel, there's so much to explore.

Discover all of our Rhône Valley articles below:

Matt Walls, Gearoid Devaney MS and Fiona Hayes tasted 46 wines, with 9 Outstanding and 26 Highly recommended

Northern Rhône: Panel tasting scores

46 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 9

Highly recommended 26

Recommended 9

Commended 2

Fair 0

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their 2015-vintage red wines from any northern Rhône appellation

Scroll down to see the top-scoring wines from our northern Rhône panel tasting

Poised and raring to go

It’s an easy sequence to remember: ’05, ’10, ’15, ’20.

All were great vintages in the northern Rhône, but some – particularly 2005 and 2010 – have been agonisingly slow to mature.

This enjoyable tasting of nearly 50 wines from 2015 showed that the vintage deserves the hype that it received on release. What’s more, most of them are opening up and drinking well already.

The preceding winter was rainy, topping up the water table. Spring was damp, too, and warm; the season got off to an early start.

All of that water proved crucial, as 2015 turned out to be the hottest year on record after 2003. Yields were generous and the grapes were in perfect condition at harvest.

Despite the summer heat, the style of 2015 can be described as remarkably classic.

Fiona Hayes said: ‘I was expecting a warmer profile, but overall they were very well balanced… with a lot of freshness.’

Appellation analysis

The 2015 Crozes-Hermitage flight was remarkably strong. ‘You often think that Crozes-Hermitage doesn’t age well, but this showed that it does,’ said Hayes.

At 10 years of age, none were over the hill. Even better were the St-Josephs, which yielded three Outstanding wines.

‘A really strong flight overall,’ according to Gearoid Devaney MS. ‘Some really good expressions of Syrah – freshness, elegance and good balance.’

The Côte-Rôtie flight, though impressive, was more mixed in style; when the oak was in balance, there were some thrilling wines to enjoy.

While the 2015 Côte-Rôties are largely ready now, the best Hermitage wines need a little longer – but the quality there is even higher.

Certain styles proved divisive. More delicate wines, such as Domaine Belle’s Hermitage and Pierre-Jean Villa’s Côte-Rôtie Fongeant, were scored at 95 or 96 points by one or two judges but not all.

Most contentious was Jean-Michel Stéphan’s atypical, carbonic-maceration Côte-Rôtie So’Brune, which was both adored and not-so adored.

Overall, with an impressive nine Outstanding from 46 wines, this tasting proved that 2015 is a vintage that has lived up to its potential – and is now just beginning to deliver on its promise.

What to eat with northern Rhône Syrah, by Fiona Beckett

With most Rhône wines in restaurants coming from recent vintages, it’s most likely that you’re going to be drinking any older vintages at home.

But what should you pair them with? It depends of course on the appellation.

There’s a considerable difference pricewise between a Crozes-Hermitage and a Hermitage or Côte-Rôtie, which will no doubt make you think you ought to up your game with the latter pair, although there’s an attractive rusticity to mature Crozes that will satisfy any yearning for hearty grills and stews or good, meaty sausages.

With the finer wines you’re more likely to be looking at a roast – maybe salt-aged beef or a roasting joint from a herd of older cattle, mutton rather than lamb, or a haunch of venison.

Game, of course, is excellent with mature northern Rhône wines. Pheasant or grouse, maybe, rather than more delicate partridge – or a rich game pie.

A cheeseboard, too. Older wines are more mellow and less angular than younger ones, so they’re more accommodating when it comes to pungent, strongly flavoured cheeses.

See all notes and scores from the northern Rhône panel tasting

The judges

Matt Walls is a Contributing Editor to Decanter and the DWWA Regional Chair for Rhône. His latest book, The Smart Traveller’s Wine Guide to the Rhône Valley, is available now from Académie du Vin Library, priced at £12.99

Gearoid Devaney MS is an awarded sommelier, a director at London-based merchant Flint Wines and co-founder of restaurant Cabotte in the City. He has also worked at Michelin three-star Pierre Gagnaire in Paris and became a Master Sommelier in 2009

Fiona Hayes is a buyer at The Wine Society, responsible for categories including Rhône. She has worked at Fields Morris & Verdin and Berry Bros & Rudd, and was a buyer for European wines at Lay & Wheeler until early 2024

Northern Rhône panel tasting results:

Wines were tasted blind

Related articles

• Eight top Rhône wines to buy in the supermarket
• Matt Walls picks the 12 best Cornas wines to open now or save for later
• Walls’ hidden gems: Domaine Verzier, a new future for the northern Rhône

If you ask people to name a powerful, potent and concentrated wine, you can bet that Châteauneuf-du-Pape would be a common call. There’s no doubt that it can be an extreme style, and that’s one reason it has so many admirers.

But playing at the outer reaches of style can be treacherous. Balance and drinkability can be easily lost.

Scroll down for notes and scores for eight vintages of Vieille Julienne’s Réservé

My personal taste has always veered towards more elegant interpretations of Châteauneuf. I was never a fan of the pumped-up, overripe examples from the 1990s.

But there is one bottling that strides beyond the limits of most Grenache-based wines, and does so magnificently: Domaine de la Vieille Julienne’s cuvée Réservé.

Early attempts

I visit the domaine’s owner and winemaker Jean-Paul Daumen in October every year to get his take on the new vintage. I can always rely on him for an intelligent and eloquent read of the season in question.

This year we also tasted through eight vintages of Réservé made between 2012 and 2024.

Daumen joined his father at the family estate in 1992. He soon noticed that some of their oldest Grenache vines within a parcel of their Trois Sources vineyard appeared different – very small, loose bunches and fewer leaves. In 1994, he decided to vinify them separately. Encouraged by the results, he did so again in 1995.

He waited until the renowned 1998 vintage to repeat the experiment a third time. Despite a glorious growing season, it was less successful.

‘In the 1990s, for many producers the goal was to get very overripe grapes,’ he says. By following the same trend, he ended up with a wine that fell out of balance and into excess.

‘The ‘90s was a time for me to learn,’ he says. ‘Sometimes to find the limit, you have to go past it.’

His 1999, picked earlier, was much better. By 2001, he finally felt satisfied with his creation.

Vintages of Réservé produced:

1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, and every vintage between 2015-2025.

Coloured ribbon

To begin with, Daumen only made this cuvée in the best vintages, but due to global warming he has been able to produce it every year since 2015.

Before, it was a case of not wanting to ‘amputate’ anything from his other Châteauneuf cuvées by making Réservé.

Today, the fruit ‘must be removed from Trois Sources,’ he says, ‘as it wouldn’t be right for it.’

The selection is made at harvest by tasting the berries, and a ribbon is attached to the vines so the picking team knows which ones to select.

The blend is typically 90%-95% Grenache, the rest mostly Syrah, with a little Cinsault and Counoise.

The Grenache has historically all been destemmed, but this is beginning to change, as Daumen likes the complexity that a little whole bunch can bring. He matures it in old foudres, as he’s never liked new oak.

The style

Some Châteauneufs, such as Clos des Papes, focus on finesse. Others, like Château de Beaucastel, are more about structure and balance. Vieille Julienne Réservé is Grenache in excelsis.

It’s a wine of phenomenal concentration, intensity and thrust – it’s so loud and so immense that it dominates your attention. Yet in good vintages it retains enough acidity, freshness and salinity for a sense of elegance and drinkability. It’s a wine of such staggering proportions, such depth and length, that it leaves you awestruck.

That said, I don’t expect everyone to enjoy it. Some will find it too powerful, too intense, simply too much.

Since converting to biodynamic viticulture in 2001, Daumen has seen alcohol levels rise slightly in his wines; but conversely ‘you don’t feel it as much’. He admits it’s hard to explain, but he believes it’s to do with the quality of the alcohol, rather than the quantity.

There’s no escaping that this is a potent wine; it typically reaches 15.5%-16% alcohol. Would it be better with less alcohol? No; as it is a cornerstone of the wine. ‘Alcohol brings this round side, this sucrosité,’ he says.

50 years and counting

Because of its outsize proportions, when tasting from barrel I’ve had niggling doubts in the past about how this cuvée will perform over time. After all, some of those exaggerated wines from the ‘90s fell apart all too quickly. But this tasting extinguished that uncertainty.

Despite its size, it doesn’t need to be aged for a long time before drinking – you can approach it like a normal Châteauneuf in that respect. In fact it drinks better young than most. It also matures largely at the same pace, so the 2012 for example is beginning to drink very well now.

Daumen says there is a degree of unpredictability with this cuvée, but it’s clear that good vintages age very well. Some, like the 2016, should last for 50 years or more. Such is its life force, you can almost imagine it lasting twice that long.

When it comes to food, a côte de boeuf is the obvious choice. It’s a wine that demands protein, fat and smoky char.

Like the more extreme styles of music, fashion or art, it won’t be for everyone. To be certain, you’ll have to try it.

Ensure you’re in the right mood, in the right company, it’s at the right temperature and you have complementary food. But even if it’s not to your personal taste, it’s hard to argue that this isn’t one of the greatest global expressions of Grenache.

Either way, you won’t forget it in a hurry.

Vieille Julienne Réservé through time:

Wines are listed by vintage from youngest to oldest

Related articles

• Châteauneuf-du-Pape: Revisiting 2020 in bottle
• How Tablas Creek went on a quest to bottle Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s hidden grapes
• Château de Beaucastel completes radical €12m cellar project

Rhône 2024 en primeur vintage report

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Read Decanter’s Rhône Valley correspondent Matt Walls on the 2024 vintage, and see all his tasting notes and scores.

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Appellation posts

I’m a big fan of two-tier drinking.

At the weekend, I drink the most exciting stuff I can afford. During the week however, I tend to drink relatively inexpensive wines and focus on value.

As a Decanter Premium member reading an article on supermarket wines, I’m wondering, do you entertain a similar strategy?

If you’re looking for the best Rhône wines from UK supermarkets, here are some suggestions.

Subscribe to see Matt’s top supermarket Rhône wines

Rules of thumb

Shopping for the best value is not the same thing as shopping for the lowest price, but supermarkets can be a good place to do both of these things. However, you still need to know exactly what to buy, as there are plenty of wines which are best avoided.

At the cheaper end, going on appellation isn’t as reliable as it should be. For this article I tasted Côtes du Rhône and Côtes du Rhône Villages that were better than some much grander appellation names.

If you’re looking for wines at very low prices, co-operative wineries can be a good source, such as the one from Asda for just £5.77.

Once you get to at least £10 per bottle, the quality becomes significantly more reliable. Of the eight wines I tasted under £10, only three were good enough to recommend, even taking low prices into account.

I was often disappointed with supermarket own-label wines. I was surprised by this, as their premium tiers used to be a good source of bargains.

As is often the case in wine, the best wines came from the most dependable producers. Though not the cheapest options, it was Famille Perrin, Chapoutier and Gabriel Meffre that stood out for sheer quality.

Finally, if organic viticulture is important to you, look elsewhere as there’s little to choose from in supermarkets.

Asda

Of the three Asda wines tasted, it was the Vignerons de l’Enclave Fief de Saint Paul Côtes du Rhône rouge 2023 that stood out.

I’m glad I tasted these wines blind, as the label isn’t terribly attractive – but for £5.77, the wine’s not bad at all. Vignerons de l’Enclave is a quality-minded co-operative in the northern reaches of the southern Rhône, and this is a well-balanced Côtes du Rhône with drinkability.

Buy this if…

…you’re looking for the best wine available for under £6.

It could also be a good option if you’re shopping for an inexpensive red for a party.

Co-op

The three Co-op wines tasted were all made by the Perrin family of Château de Beaucastel, and they all perform well at their respective price points. The most basic Co-op Côtes du Rhône rouge 2023 for £6.25 is straightforward but decent for the price and the Grange St Martin Côtes du Rhône rouge 2023 at £11.15 is a significant step up in terms of depth and concentration. The Close Encounters Châteauneuf-du-Pape rouge 2022 at £26.75, however, was the wine of the tasting – it has genuine Châteauneuf class, unlike some of the other inexpensive ones I tasted.

Buy this if…

…you’re looking for the best supermarket Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Tesco

Of the five wines I tasted from Tesco, the Chapoutier Côtes du Rhône Villages rouge 2024 (£12.00) stood head and shoulders above the rest – in fact, in the £10-£15 bracket, this is one of the best wines currently available in UK supermarkets. It has impressive concentration and ripeness and would stand up to robust wintery food. Tasted blind, I assumed it was a more expensive wine from a more elevated appellation.

Buy this if…

…you’re looking for the very best quality/price ratio.

It’s also a good option if you’re looking for reds to go with wintery food.

Waitrose

Waitrose put forward four wines from the Rhône, and they were all good quality, scoring between 85 and 89 points. The most interesting was one of the very few white wines I encountered, Gabriel Meffre Saint-Vincent Côtes du Rhône blanc 2024 (£11.00). This was absolutely classic white Côtes du Rhône, it had a generous amount of fruit, good freshness and would be versatile with food.

Buy this if…

…you’re looking for a good value white Rhône.

Others

I only tasted one Rhône wine from Aldi, but it wasn’t good enough to recommend. Sainsburys, Lidl and Marks & Spencer declined to send samples.

Eight top supermarket Rhône wines

Famille Perrin, Close Encounters, Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2022

M Chapoutier, Côtes du Rhône Villages 2024

Gabriel Meffre, Saint-Vincent, Côtes du Rhône 2024

Famille Perrin, La Grange St Martin, Côtes du Rhône 2022

J Boulard, Esprit des Trois Pierres, Costières de Nîmes 2023

Co-op, Côtes du Rhône 2023

Vignerons de l’Enclave, Fief de Saint Paul, Côtes du Rhône 2023

Palais St Vigni, Côtes du Rhône 2023

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Is Tablas Creek’s Muscardin the only pure varietal bottling of this grape produced in the world?

Muscardin comes from the Rhône Valley, but I’m not aware of any single-variety bottlings produced there. Or anywhere else for that matter.

Matt’s notes for the Tablas Creek varietal Châteauneuf wines listed below

In fact, before tasting Tablas Creek’s 2023 Muscardin, aside from a few barrel samples in the Rhône, I’d never encountered a pure example of this intriguing red grape.

This bottling represents the culmination of Tablas Creek’s 20-year mission to plant all 16 varieties grown at its sister winery Château de Beaucastel in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

In doing so, it’s shone a light on some esoteric grape varieties that deserve to be better known – some of which are rapidly gaining popularity both in their natural home and abroad.

Tablas Creek’s quest

It all started when Jean-Pierre and François Perrin of Château de Beaucastel got to know Robert Haas, owner of US importer Vineyards Brands.

They spent two decades travelling the US and promoting their wine together, and would often discuss how the hot, dry Californian climate was a good match for the grape varieties of Châteauneuf.

They were so convinced that together they bought a 49ha site in Paso Robles, 12km from the Pacific Ocean in what is now the Adelaida District. They named it Tablas Creek, after the little stream that ran through it. Since Robert’s passing, the estate is now managed by his son, Jason Haas.

When comparing the two terroirs of Châteauneuf and Paso Robles, Haas says: ‘There are more similarities than differences – that’s why we picked this spot’.

Although there are no pudding stones (galets roulés) in Paso, both terroirs have a limestone bedrock.

The way the two properties work is also aligned: both estates are farmed biodynamically and are not irrigated.

But when it comes to the climate in Paso, ‘almost everything is more extreme,’ says Haas.

The difference between summer and winter temperatures, the difference between day and night temperatures, and the rainfall patterns – particularly the harsh drought conditions in Paso between April and November.

Importing the cultivars

To ensure top-quality plant material, the collaborators imported cuttings directly from Beaucastel, the first vines arriving at Tablas Creek in 1990. After a mandatory three-year quarantine period, planting began in 1994.

They started with a handful of key red varieties: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Counoise. The initial white grapes were Roussanne, Marsanne, Viognier, Grenache Blanc and Piquepoul Blanc.

In 2003, they decided to bring over the remaining cultivars found at Beaucastel: Cinsault, Terret Noir, Muscardin, Vaccarèse in red; Picardan, Clairette Blanche and Bourboulenc in white.

Fellow Châteauneuf geeks will have noticed the two interlopers: neither Marsanne nor Viognier are permitted in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. They are grown at Beaucastel for use in its white Côtes du Rhône Le Coudoulet.

Beaucastel only grows 14 of the 18 permitted Châteauneuf grapes. So what about those remaining four varieties – would Tablas Creek ever consider planting Clairette Rose, Grenache Gris, Piquepoul Gris or Piquepoul Noir?

‘It would be fun… but we have no plans to,’ says Haas.

Why pure?

Given that Beaucastel’s classic Châteauneuf bottlings are blends, and Tablas Creek’s top bottlings are too, you might ask yourself – why are they bottling all these grapes pure?

Firstly, as ‘one of the standard bearers of the Rhône movement in America,’ Haas felt it was important for Tablas Creek to grow the full Beaucastel collection.

And while he admits he ‘wasn’t always expecting greatness,’ he was often amazed at how good some of the more unusual grapes could be.

‘We kept getting surprised,’ he says. Some of them surprised me too.

The tasting

The winemaking style here is all about clarity and precision, so the characteristics of each grape can be easily discerned – there’s no excessive new oak or reductive winemaking to cover up the details.

This range puts a spotlight on classic varietal character – they could even be used in a classroom to illustrate the personality of these different grapes.

Possible exceptions are the lean Viognier and pretty Mourvèdre, both of which are made in a different style to most French examples.

In red, the Grenache and Syrah really show their natural class. Cinsault and Counoise are both seeing something of a reappraisal in the Rhône currently, and these bottlings from Tablas Creek prove that they can do brilliantly elsewhere too.

The Muscardin and Terret Noir shared certain similarities: they are more light and smashable, more about flowers and herbs than generous fruits.

The whites if anything were even more consistent. Marsanne, Roussanne, Clairette and Grenache Blanc are responsible for some of the best whites in the Rhône Valley, and they didn’t disappoint here either.

What surprised me was how well some of the lesser-known varieties performed – the Bourboulenc, Piquepoul and Picardan were also excellent. All three have relatively high acidity, and Haas rightly states that in a warming climate, ‘acid is more valuable than it’s ever been’.

On the back of this tasting, I hope Haas changes his mind about planting those other unsung grapes.

Sometimes it takes an outsider to see the true value of something that locals take for granted. Hopefully Tablas Creek’s embrace of these more unusual Châteauneuf grapes might encourage more winemakers to give them a chance – both in California and back home in the Rhône.

Pure varietal Châteauneuf

While most Châteauneuf-du-Papes are blends, making single variety wines from any of the 18 permitted grapes is allowed by the appellation.

Here are some examples:

Grenache – pure bottlings are quite common, such as Domaine la Barroche’s Pure, Domaine de la Janasse’s Chaupin and Domaine de Cristia’s Vieilles Vignes

Syrah – Domaine Saint-Paul’s L’Insolite

Mourvèdre – Mas de Boislauzon’s Tintot

Cinsault – Famille Isabel Ferrando’s F601

Vaccarèse – Château des Fines Roches’ Forget me Not is 90% Vaccarèse

Grenache Blanc – Château de Vaudieu’s Clos du Belvédère

Clairette Blanche – Domaine André Mathieu’s Vin di Felibre

Clairette Rose – La Bastide St-Dominique’s Chapelle

Roussanne – Domaine Raymond Usseglio’s Pure Roussanne

Bourboulenc – Domaine de Saint Siffrein’s Le Berlou

Picardan – Château de Vaudieu’s Le Picardan

The Châteauneuf single variety collection at Tablas Creek:

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The tortuous granite hills behind the village of Cornas are abrupt, corrugated and sun-baked. Viticulture is physically challenging. What you find in the bottle reflects this extreme terroir – dramatic, muscular reds with tensile tannins.

Once considered the rough-and-ready country cousin of Côte-Rôtie, Cornas has developed impressively in recent years. At the opposite end of the northern Rhône region, this hot, more southerly terroir makes for a very different expression.

If Côte-Rôtie offers a precise and polished rendition of Syrah, then Cornas plays it unplugged.

Scroll down for Matt’s Cornas vintage selection

Wild ride

Landholdings here are necessarily small and parcels are prized by the families that own them. Only relatively recently have bottle prices allowed vignerons to look to the vines for their primary income.

Until the late 1980s, the vineyards might only be tended at weekends. Back then, winemaking was more intuitive than scientific and Cornas had a reputation for rusticity, caused by dirty barrels.

Today, winemakers are professionally trained and the brettanomyces (a type of spoilage yeast which creates ‘farmyardy’ aromas that some find offputting) has been largely eradicated.

The natural wildness of these wines has been preserved, however. The French have a wonderful word for it: sauvage.

This assertive, punchy style of 100% Syrah can make for long-lived wines. Sometimes they need extended periods in bottle to settle down – the tooth-and-claw tannins of Cornas can be rapacious in youth.

But in good vintages they have the lifeforce and freshness they need in order to sustain a lengthy hibernation, resulting in wines of immense complexity, elegance and staying power.

As the wines age, expect wild herbs and smoke to emerge from the black fruits, then layers of leather, game and mushroom notes to develop, adding umami depths.

Their natural salinity and blackberry acidity remain, their cleansing tannins smoothed but not blunted.

The following are six vintages to have on your radar: three to drink now and three to tuck away.

Cornas can age unpredictably sometimes, but years such as these, from the winemakers listed below, shouldn’t let you down.

Cornas to drink now

2016

The southern Rhône garnered most of the attention in 2016, but quality in the north was also exceptional.

While the south saw ideal growing conditions, according to Olivier Clape of Domaine Clape, Cornas suffered ‘a very complicated season with lots of rain, and mildew pressure all year until the end of July’.

However, the weather in August and September was ‘magnificent’, leading to a mid-September harvest. Nine years is on the young side to open Cornas, but all eight of the 2016s that I tasted were ready now, displaying classic Cornas structure and aromatic complexity.

It’s an athletic vintage – neither massive nor very concentrated but mineral and focused, with fresh acidity and palate-cleansing tannins.

A vintage that will age well on its freshness and balance, typically to around 2035.

2010

A vintage that was lauded on release but that has largely remained stubbornly closed and introverted. Until now that is – they are finally starting to open up. Rejoice! Grab your corkscrews!

It’s a vintage that has it all: freshness, balance, harmony, complexity… It’s indisputably an excellent year and a very long-lived one – the best will last to 2050 and beyond.

Olivier Clape remembers an ‘exceptional’ vintage: ‘The weather was perfect,’ he recalls. ‘Rain but not too much, heat but not too much. Even if the vintage was early the wines are very well balanced. It’s all down to the month of August, which was hot but always had cool nights, which is rare. That’s what made the vintage.’

2006

This is a year that sometimes gets forgotten, but it’s a smart pick if you’re looking for mature Cornas.

The 2005s were talked up on release – the wines have huge energy and robust tannins – but some still haven’t reached their peak.

The three 2006s that I tasted still had life ahead of them but were fully mature, displaying a resinous complexity, harmony and a lovely sense of freshness, still. It’s all thanks to a benevolent growing season and a particularly fine September.

Back then, a typical vintage in Cornas still took place in mid-September (today, late August or early September is more common), so vignerons were free to pick at the perfect point of balance and ripeness.

Cornas to drink later

2020

A vintage with ‘silky tannins and lots of fruit’ that’s been ‘very open and accessible since bottling’, according to Guillaume Gilles.

This was confirmed during the tasting – you could drink many 2020s straight away, but try to resist if you can, as the best is yet to come.

There was some localised mildew due to a wet spring, but the subsequent season was hot and dry, producing well-balanced wines – ripe and structured with good concentration and no heaviness.

This is a very likeable year that’s an obvious choice if you’re looking for a good vintage that will be ready to drink soon then develop for a few decades. The best might surprise us with even longer lives thanks to their harmonious profiles.

2019

Huge wines! The quality is mixed, however. Some are breathtaking and will age brilliantly, others are overripe, overoaked, overalcoholic – simply too much. But choose wisely and there are some truly great wines.

It’s not the most classic expression – very powerful, even for Cornas – but the best are impossible to ignore.

It was a hot, dry vintage with some dramatic heat spikes. You can feel the extreme nature of the season in the bottle, with wines that are ‘structured and powerful with quite marked acidity’, according to Clape.

Given the heat, the wines’ acidity is a pleasant surprise – and crucial to balance out the concentrated fruit, intense tannins and elevated alcohol.

‘Even before fermentation, the juice was as black and complex as wine!’ says Gilles. Most will start opening up in the next few years.

2015

Gilles remembers a fairly easy growing season: ‘Rather dry and hot but without excess, and some rains at the right moments in summer. The resulting wines aren’t far off the perfect balance – serious wines with lots of class.’

The 2015s share a number of traits with 2019, but 2015 is more consistent overall.

It’s an immense vintage – titanic wines with skyscraper tannins, incredible concentration and piercing intensity and salinity.

Due to its huge proportions, not everybody made balanced wines – some suffer from unruly tannins – however, the best are wines for the ages. They may not be as friendly as the 2016s, but the 2015s will last a great deal longer.

They’re easily as powerful as the 2010s, and like the wines of that year, you really must wait until they’re ready, which will be around 2028, if not later.

Those who wait will be richly rewarded. It’s an excellent vintage and one that you definitely want in your collection.

10 leading Cornas producers to know

Domaine A&E Verset

Alain Verset has now handed over to his daughter Emmanuelle, one of the few female winemakers in the village. Excellent parcels of old vines create wines with sublime finesse, particularly her cuvée Signature. See Facebook

Domaine Alain Voge

Alain Voge was a leading winemaker in the village. Since his death in 2020, the estate has been successfully guided by Lionel Fraisse. The cuvées Vieilles Vignes and Les Vieilles Fontaines are delicious and ageworthy. alain-voge.com

Domaine Clape

The Clape family is a cornerstone of the Cornas appellation – its traditional style has remained largely unchanged for generations. Its wines exhibit all the intensity of its exceptional parcels of old vines and can last for decades. 146 Avenue du Colonel-Rousset

Domaine du Coulet

Highly characterful wines from iconoclast Matthieu Barret (pictured). His graffitied winery has no barrels – he matures his wines in diamond-shaped concrete tanks. His Cornas cuvées are lighter in tannin than most and have spellbinding aromatic complexity. domaineducoulet.com

Domaine du Tunnel

From his unusual winery, which occupies a disused railway tunnel just outside St-Péray, winemaker Stéphane Robert makes bold, powerful Cornas. An estate that continually evolves and improves. domaine-du-tunnel.fr

Domaine Franck Balthazar

Wild and thrilling natural-leaning Cornas, more about purity and vibrancy than huge tannic structures.

Unusually for Cornas, they often drink well young, particularly his no-added-sulphite bottling Sans Soufre Ajouté. 8 Rue des Violettes

Domaine Guillaume Gilles

Gilles worked under past master Robert Michel. When this legendary producer retired, Gilles bought some of his best vineyards.

All whole bunch-fermented, no new oak and a light touch in the cellar makes for classical Cornas of the highest standard. gillesguillaume@neuf.fr

Domaine Johann Michel

Michel bought half a hectare of Cornas in 1997 and, single-handed, has built his estate up to 4ha. Between modern and traditional in style, his wines are concentrated but also approachable. domaine-johann-michel.fr

Domaine Thierry Allemand

Thierry’s not from a family of winemakers, but after showing early promise his father bought him a small parcel of vines in 1982. He now has 5ha that he works organically with his son Théo.

Highly sought-after today, their wines bring elegance and purity to the characteristic wildness of Cornas. 22 Impasse des Granges

Domaine Vincent Paris

Paris is best known for his exceptional single-vineyard bottling La Geynale (see recent vertical tasting on Decanter Premium online).

In good vintages, his other Cornas cuvées, Granit 30 and Granit 60, offer unbeatable value for money. vin-paris.com

Other names worth seeking out include: Domaine Aurélien Chatagnier, Domaine Chaboud Cellier, Domaine Dumien Serrette, Domaine Lionnet, Domaine Thomas Farge, Ferraton.

12 Cornas wines to either enjoy now or cellar

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Some vintages have clear identities. In Gigondas, the 2019s for example are wilful, energetic wines, while the 2018s are softer and juicier.

The 2022 vintage is harder to pin down. The best way of describing it, both in climate and style, is a vintage of extremes.

The wines occupy a broader stylistic spectrum than a typical year, even within the range of a single producer.

But if you sidestep the unbalanced wines – there are many with tough tannins and high alcohols – the best wines will age for decades.

Scroll down for Matt Walls’ best 2022 Gigondas wines in bottle

A harsh season

The extreme nature of the wines comes as no surprise: 2022 was the hottest and driest year on record in the southern Rhône.

‘The summer was very hot, scorching even,’ says Julien Brechet of Domaine des Bosquets, ‘and very dry. Temperatures sometimes reached 42°C.

‘Fortunately the cool Dentelles massif and the morning shade cast over the vineyard helped us hold our ground,’ he continues. ‘The sunshine is strong but less scorching than on the plains.’

Romain Saurel of Domaine Saint-Damien says that spring was extremely dry, with less than 200mm of rainfall between December and July.

Thankfully there was a storm on 14 August, which ‘really saved the quality of the vintage,’ he says.

Further small rains later in August and September also helped the vines stay on track, but young vines suffered.

Brechet had to manually water his young vines 11 times between June and August to keep them alive. Old vines coped much better.

This is a vintage where Grenache really shows its worth. The Syrah-heavy blends were often impenetrably tough and tannic, whereas the Grenache-based wines were more juicy, vibrant and balanced.

See Matt Walls full report on the 2022 vintage in the Rhône here

Tannin and texture

Very hot, dry vintages can sometimes lead to jammy or raisined fruit flavours but that’s not the case in 2022.

Despite the conditions – and the fairly low acidities – the wines do have a good sense of freshness.

Nonetheless, the hot, dry conditions left a strong imprint on the wines.

For Jérôme Rathle, 2022 marked his second vintage. His new estate, Domaine des Florets, is one to watch.

‘The lack of rain limited fungal diseases, but the high temperatures led to small berries and ultimately low yields,’ he says, ‘the Syrah berries looked like blueberries.’

This meant a high skin-to-juice ratio in the grapes, which made for some very tannic wines.

Another effect of the hot weather was that some vines shut down and stopped ripening, which can lead to green tannins – further impacting some wines’ textures.

So the main question surrounding the tasting was this: will the tannins ever soften and come round?

For a good number of the 76 wines I tasted, I suspect the answer is no, they won’t. Those wines aren’t included in my selection.

But winemakers that achieved balanced grapes and mastered their tannin management produced some thrilling, chiselled and assertive wines.

Key takeaways: Wines for the cellar

Those drinking well already are in the minority; even for the wines you could broach today, most will improve with a few more years in bottle.

This is a vintage that will reward the patient.

Brechet agrees: ‘The 2022 vintage will likely be a great ageing vintage in Gigondas, thanks to the balance of the great high-altitude terroirs.’

He believes his Regard Loin could age for over 30 years, and I wouldn’t bet against him.

It’s worth adding that it’s not just the higher elevation terroirs that turned out great wines in 2022; some of the lower altitude plots on the Cône also performed well, such as those from Saint-Damien and Montirius.

Most of all, 2022 is a vintage where the best winemakers really rose to the top.

Love French wine? Sign up to Decanter’s France newsletter here

Best 2022 Gigondas in bottle:

30 wines are listed below, see all 37 of Matt Walls’ recommedations here

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To paraphrase Shakespeare: some are born into vineyards, some buy vineyards, and some have vineyards thrust upon them.

It was the last of these three that destiny chose for Saskia Goetschy.

But arriving in the Rhône with fresh eyes has granted her and her husband Maurice Goetschy an original interpretation of Lirac and Tavel.

Scroll down for notes and scores for Château Boucarut wines

New beginnings

Saskia spent her childhood in Malaga, southern Spain, where her father was a workaholic lawyer. Her mother wanted the family to spend more time together, so they looked at some properties in rural France.

‘One day, my father came back from the office,’ says Saskia, ‘and he said “remember that house with the vineyards? Well I bought it.”’

And just like that, she had to pack her things and move to France.

This was in 1993 when she was still a kid. Was it as magical as it sounds? ‘No, it was really stressful!’ she says, ‘Changing life, changing country, not knowing the language… but I had no choice!’

The property, deep in the vineyards of Lirac, was a large mas called Château Boucarut that dates back to 1758.

To begin with they needed somewhere else to stay as the buildings required significant renovation. Saskia’s mother got talking to a local man one day who happened to be launching his own winemaking career, and he had enough space to put them up.

As luck would have it, this man turned out to be star winemaker Rodolphe de Pins of Château de Montfaucon. Saskia’s family lodged in his château for two years.

To Luxembourg and back

After school, Saskia studied law, then moved to Luxembourg where she worked at a legal firm for 12 years.

It was there she met Maurice, and they spent holidays together at Château Boucarut. They dreamt about spending their distant retirement on the property making wine.

When a block of vines that bordered the property came on the market, Saskia realised they simply had to buy it – or forever be blamed by future generations for missing the opportunity.

For two years they tried to manage the vineyards from Luxembourg but it proved impossible.

In 2019, they decided to give up their careers in law and return permanently to Boucarut.

Back to the vines

By the time they returned, they had already started converting the vineyards to organic.

‘There was no option,’ says Maurice, ‘by that time, everybody knew it worked.’

He believed it was crucial to maintain local biodiversity. ‘But you have to go further,’ he says.

A common way to control weeds and unwanted grass without herbicides is to plough the soils mechanically, but he’s not satisfied with this option either.

He believes that ripping up the earth disrupts the life within the soils, including elements you can’t see, like networks of mycelia.

‘If you put a cat in a blender, it’s not a cat anymore,’ he says.

They’re working towards no-till farming, where the soils are not ploughed and or worked, and their eventual intention is regenerative viticulture – an approach that prioritises improvement of soil health.

In the winery, they work with as little manipulation as possible – no commercial yeasts or added enzymes, no sulphites before bottling and no fining or filtration.

They cite the great Eric Pfifferling of Domaine l’Anglore as an inspiration.

Outsider’s vision

The result is a range of wines with vibrancy, immediacy and drinkability.

In natural wine circles, you sometimes hear people talking about ‘living wines’.

Wines aren’t literally alive, of course; but when you taste these wines, the expression makes sense.

I’m sure many newcomers envy those who are born into winemaking families, inheriting vines, wineries and full cellars.

But not all legacies are desirable. Sometimes complacency and blinkered sight comes with the territory.

‘We didn’t have the heritage of parents, grandparents… we could begin more or less from zero,’ says Maurice.

It allows them to make a fresh read of this old terroir – and come up with something deliciously original.

Discover the wines from Château Boucarut:

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Château des Tours Côtes du Rhône Grande Réserve 2015 is one of the most memorable bottles I’ve drunk in the last 12 months.

It would have been bottled as a Vacqueyras where it was grown, but it had to be declassified to a lowly Côtes du Rhône.

Why? For one reason: the wine was deemed too pale.

Notes for lighter Rhône reds below

Is the colour of a wine important to you? I care more about how it smells, how it tastes and how it makes me feel.

And this wine made me feel elated. It would have been a credit to its appellation.

But all Southern Rhône AOCs state that their red wines must have a certain depth of colour.

If a producer’s wine isn’t dark enough, it won’t be granted the appellation – and declassifying their wines usually means having to drop their prices too.

Many winemakers are frustrated with this increasingly outdated regulation.

Fortunately, a change in the rules might be on the horizon – bringing with it an entirely new category of wine.

Dark arts

Each appellation has its own rules regarding depth of colour and wines are analysed using a spectrophotometer.

The cahier des charges (official production rules) for AOC Côtes du Rhône wines, for example, stipulates an optical density of 3.5; AOC Châteauneuf-du-Pape reds must be slightly darker, at least 4; for AOC Vacqueyras it’s 5; Lirac is 6.

Initially, this regulation was useful.

‘Originally, this colour intensity threshold was intended to prevent overly diluted wines from being released onto the market,’ says Damien Gilles, president of the Syndicat des Vignerons des Côtes du Rhône.

‘Given the climatic conditions of the time, it was a form of guarantee.’

Today, diluted or unripe reds are rare in the Southern Rhône – thanks in part to the heating climate – which is rendering these rules obsolete.

‘In the past, the darker it was, the more alcoholic it was, the better it was,’ says Jean-Etienne Alary of Domaine Alary in Cairanne.

Today’s tastes are more refined.

Turning to the light

A red wine that’s pale is not necessarily dilute.

There are certain practices in the vineyard and cellar that have strongly advantageous effects on the finished wine but also happen to reduce colour density.

Whole bunch vinification, for example, can add freshness and structure – but often results in a lighter colour.

Wines grown on sand can be beautifully elegant, but are rarely dark. In the right hands, carbonic maceration of Grenache can make lovely pale-coloured wines.

Amélie Barrot, president of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation regulation committee (ODG), lists three more factors that are resulting in ‘a natural decline in colour density in our red wines’.

Firstly, the increasing interest in lesser-known grape varieties with lighter pigmentation such as Cinsault, Vaccarèse and Terret Noir.

Secondly, a growing interest in blending white grapes into red wines, which can bring freshness and acidity.

And thirdly, ‘the narrowing gap between day and night temperatures in summer, which negatively affects anthocyanin concentration in grapes, and thus colour intensity in wines,’ she says.

Stuck with Syrah

One, perhaps unintended, effect of the rules around colour density in the Southern Rhône has been the proliferation of Syrah, which is now the second most planted variety after Grenache.

Originally from the Northern Rhône, Syrah arrived relatively recently in the south.

Domaine Condorcet claims it was first to plant Syrah in Châteauneuf-du-Pape in 1830, and it spread to the rest of the Southern Rhône much later.

It can be highly beneficial in a blend, bringing structure and spice, but primarily, according to Maxime-François Laurent of Domaine Gramenon, ‘Syrah was brought here to add a bit of colour’.

Syrah is naturally much darker than Grenache, so it can be a useful grape for reaching the required colour levels.

But its flavours can easily dominate a blend. And more and more winemakers believe it’s now ill-adapted to the hot Southern Rhône.

‘It’s not a typical variety here,’ says Maurice Goetschy of Château Boucarut in Lirac, ‘and sometimes it suffers in the heat.’

But winemakers are stuck with Syrah for the colour it provides – whether they like it or not.

A new category is born

Fortunately, change is afoot. Gilles says the Syndicat des Vignerons des Côtes du Rhône has initiated a revision of the rules, and a request has already been submitted to the French appellation authorities, the Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité (INAO).

Barrot confirms that AOC Châteauneuf-du-Pape is considering a similar revision, ‘with a decision expected in the coming months’.

Gilles says that the changes have been requested for several reasons: to simplify the cahier des charges, to adapt to climate change and to be able to bring new products to a changing market.

Gilles says: ‘Among the areas of market adaptation, we have submitted to the INAO the creation of a new Côtes du Rhône segment reserved for fresh, fruity and light wines where colour would no longer be a limiting factor.’

This could bring about a new category of pale red, clairet-style Côtes du Rhône wines.

Chapoutier’s Vin de France ‘Rouge Clair’ might give us an idea of what to expect: a pale-coloured, commercial, chillable red that’s all about juicy red fruit flavour.

‘We were surprised by how well it sold,’ says Maxime Chapoutier, proving there’s a market for this kind of product.

I’m not sure how exciting this new category will be, but I’m keeping an open mind.

If other appellations follow suit and relax their regulations around colour, this will be a welcome development, giving producers more freedom to create brilliant, characterful wines without being penalised for it.

The future’s bright.

Lighter Rhône reds:

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Côte-Rôtie is equidistant between Avignon and Beaune. It might be part of the Rhône family, but, due to its location, it can be forgiven for looking north to Burgundy as well to the southern Rhône.

Arguably, though, Côte-Rôtie has more in common with Burgundy’s Côte d’Or.

Scroll down for notes and scores of 18 wines from Benjamin & David Duclaux

If we discount an optional seasoning of Viognier, both region’s reds are monovarietal. Their climates are continental. They grow their vines on southeast-facing slopes.

There are no official premiers or grands crus in Côte-Rôtie, but the proliferation of single vineyard wines is more Burgundian in spirit than Châteauneuvois.

Until now, most have come from Ampuis’ most sacred slopes: Côte-Brune, Côte-Blonde, La Landonne.

More recently, winemakers have been singling out lieux-dits from Côte-Rôtie’s most southerly commune – Tupin-et-Semons.

Though always part of the appellation, this sector has never garnered quite the same praise as Ampuis.

But the strength of a recent tasting at Domaine Benjamin & David Duclaux suggests this terroir is ripe for reappraisal.

Brotherly love

Benjamin and David are brothers (Domaine Duclaux in Châteauneuf is no relation). They’re a jovial pair and they get on well, always cracking jokes.

David’s son Matteo has just joined the estate after a season in New Zealand, and he shares the family’s sunny disposition.

‘We’re not making wine,’ says Benjamin, ‘we’re creating moments in life to share together.’

The 5ha estate, based in the commune of Tupin-et-Semons, was established in 1928 by the brothers’ great-grandfather.

Their Syrah parcels are all planted on gneiss and surround the estate.

Except for a little Condrieu, they only make Côte-Rôtie.

Why no St-Joseph, I wondered? ‘It’s a life choice,’ says Benjamin, ‘we want to stay small and master what we do – and we have a good life as it is! We only make wine from the slopes – we were born on the slopes.’

One cuvée becomes four

Until the 2000s, they only made one Côte-Rôtie, a blend of all their plots.

In 2003 however, they decided to make an experimental barrel of their oldest vines from lieu-dit Maison Rouge, the oldest dating back to 1943.

It was never released commercially, but the quality was clear; ‘it has always been silkier, racier,’ says David. The first official vintage of Maison Rouge was 2005.

At this point they renamed their cuvée classique La Germine. This has since been joined by La Chana, a cuvée with 7% Viognier designed for early drinking.

Their fourth cuvée, Coteaux de Tupin, was first released in 2018.

The specific parcels aren’t the only differentiating factor between each bottling.

Use of whole bunch increases through the range, from 20% for the La Chana and La Germine up to 100% for Coteaux de Tupin, which is designed with long ageing in mind.

The amount of new oak increases too, but never dominates by the time the wines are mature.

As for the names of the cuvées, La Chana and La Germine both refer to obsolete place names on antiquated vineyard maps (though both are blends of several parcels).

Coteaux de Tupin means hillsides of Tupin, a large lieu-dit under the hilltop village of Tupin. So far, so prosaic.

The etymology of Maison Rouge, meaning red house in English, is more intriguing. David offers two possibilities.

The first is connected to a house in the vineyard that was once owned by the Archbishop of Vienne. Legend has it his robes were red and his house was painted the same colour.

The second possibility is that guest houses in Roman times were painted red so that travellers knew where they could get a bed for the night, and the house in the vineyards was once such a hostelry. ‘Which is true? We don’t know,’ says David.

The tasting

When I visited earlier this year, they generously opened a full vertical of Maison Rouge and Coteaux de Tupin. It was the first time they’ve ever performed such a tasting, so the experience was a first for us all.

The Maison Rouge series came first. Blonde gneiss soils are known for their exuberant fragrance and that’s what this cuvée delivers, with high-toned rose and tobacco aromas. In the spectrum of Côte-Rôtie, this is stylistically central – traditional but not dusty, modern but measured and balanced.

It’s a cuvée you can drink young, but it shows its best typically after seven to 15 years of ageing, depending on the vintage.

Only the 2008, a wet year in Côte-Rôtie, was past its best; even the 2005 has another 10 years ahead of it.

The three vintages of Coteaux de Tupin that we tasted were all superb. Compared to the crowd-pleasing, centrist style of Maison Rouge, it’s a bolder, richer, more velvety expression.

Though this cuvée will be longer lived than a typical Maison Rouge, all three vintages of Coteaux de Tupin were surprisingly approachable already.

The Duclaux family aren’t the only ones to make single-vineyard wines from these lieux-dits. Coteaux du Tupin is bottled pure by Domaine Benoît Roseau, Domaine Martin Clerc and Maison Stéphan.

A Maison Rouge is also made by Domaine Georges Vernay and Domaine Mouton. Stéphane Ogier has just bought some land here too, though it’s not yet planted. Perhaps there will be an opportunity for horizontal tastings next time I’m in the area.

While the single-vineyard wines of Ampuis attract the limelight, those of Tupin-et-Semons remain relatively well priced. But for how much longer? This tasting proved just how good they can be.

Top class single-vineyard Côte-Rôtie:

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Rounded galets roulés, or pudding stones as they’re sometimes called, are the most emblematic soil of the Southern Rhône.

They’re the same size, shape – and sometimes colour – of bodybuilders’ biceps, which gives you a hint of what to expect from this powerful terroir.

There’s another type of soil however, little discussed and undervalued, that instead makes wines that emphasise finesse.

As tastes change – and the climate gets hotter – it’s time to seek out wines born of sand.

Scroll down for Matt’s choice of 11 Rhône wines from sandy soils

Rhône on Sea

Northern Rhône vineyards are largely built on an igneous rock – granite. In the Southern Rhône, various types of sedimentary bedrock are more common.

There are several types of sand here, some brought by rivers, others by wind – but the most interesting sand for viticultural purposes is that brought by the sea.

It’s incredible to imagine today, but the Mediterranean Sea marauded up the Rhône Valley not once but twice – during the Miocene era (23 to 5 million years ago) and the Pliocene (5 to 2 million years ago) – and while there, it deposited layer upon layer of sand that was gradually compressed into sandstone.

This rock is known in the local Provençal dialect as safre.

It’s a particularly compact type of sandstone. Philippe Lambert of Domaine des Pasquiers in Sablet says, ‘it’s almost harder than rock’.

Some vineyards here have slabs of it discarded around the edges, dredged out of the soil to allow the roots downward passage.

It weathers down naturally to produce a fine sandy topsoil. When the sun’s out, you could be sitting on the beach.

Where it’s found

Inconveniently for us, the sandy soils of the Southern Rhône don’t follow appellation boundaries.

Deposits can be found in varying amounts all over the region, including:

• The northeastern quarter of Châteauneuf-du-Pape around Courthézon.
• A band that skirts the western edge of the Dentelles de Montmirail passing through Séguret, Sablet and Gigondas.
• Huge deposits at the south of the Dentelles in Beaumes de Venise (Muscat loves sand) and smaller ones around Vacqueyras.
• To the north of the Dentelles, in the flatter parts of Roaix, Vaison la Romaine and Puyméras.
• At the base of the Lance massif in the far north east, around Rousset-les-Vignes, Saint-Pantaléon-les-Vignes and Valréas.
• A band that runs through the Massif d’Uchaux, Rochegude and Suze-la-Rousse.
• Important deposits are on the west bank too, in Laudun, Chusclan, Lirac and Tavel.

As such, when looking for wines grown on sand, you’ll have to search by producer rather than appellation; sometimes by individual cuvée.

Growing on sand

Sand is a poorer soil compared to, say, clay; it offers less in the way of nutrients to vines.

But one benefit – when not blocked by plates of hard safre – is that roots are free to delve down deeply.

Though water readily drains through sand, it’s not necessarily an arid terroir in dry climates.

Georges Truc, the renowned ‘oeno-geologist’, explains that water can percolate upwards by capillarity as long as there’s proximity to a water source.

‘Sand is very favourable to all varieties,’ he says, but it gives particularly interesting results with Grenache and Cinsault in red, and Grenache Blanc and Clairette in white.

Maurice Goetschy of Château Boucarut in Lirac says cultivars that prefer a more moderate heat, such as Roussanne and Viognier, can ripen very quickly on these terroirs.

Fine sand, fine wines

‘There’s a finesse you find from the sands of Lirac,’ says Edouard Guérin of Ogier.

By comparison, his says wines on nearby clay soils have sweeter, jammier fruit flavours. Truc agrees that ‘sand gives very fine tannins’.

Reds from vineyards composed of galets roulés tend to have muscular, rounded profiles.

Those from sand have lighter tannic textures reminiscent of fine, cooling sand flowing through your fingers.

Sand typically produces wines with a slightly paler colour, that are approachable young but can age well too.

They are usually less powerful and concentrated than wines from galets roulés – which can be a good or bad thing, depending on what you’re looking for.

Historically, sand has been less lauded than galets roulés, particularly in Châteauneuf.

But as more winemakers, and wine drinkers, seek elegance over strength, this is beginning to change.

That Château Rayas comes from sand is evidence enough that these soils can make the very finest wines.

Rhône wines made from sandy soils

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• Walls’ hidden gems: Domaine Verzier
• Walls: Reflections on what makes Cuvée Boisrenard so great
• Walls: Revisiting St-Joseph 2022 in bottle

US winery Tablas Creek said it has achieved a decades-long mission to make single-varietal wines from all 14 traditional Châteauneuf-du-Pape grape varieties that feature at Château de Beaucastel, one of the French appellation’s best-known producers.

Muscardin, rarely seen beyond the Rhône and planted in California by Tablas Creek in 2019, is the newest arrival after a 25-case production run in the 2023 vintage.

Tablas Creek, founded in 1989 by Beaucastel’s Perrin family and Robert Haas, of Vineyard Brands, said that makes its new 14-wine collection a first for a US winery.

Located in Paso Robles, the producer has long been a pioneer of Rhône varieties in the US, and regenerative farming.

‘I can feel my dad smiling down at this landmark,’ said Tablas Creek’s second-generation proprietor, Jason Haas. ‘People so often think of the Rhone grape varieties as “just blending grapes”. But tasting them on their own…each one has its own distinctive personality.

‘We are proud to have introduced so many of them to California viticulture, and to see millions of cuttings from those original mother vines in hundreds of vineyards up and down the West Coast.’

A long road

From the start, Tablas Creek has imported and propagated grape varieties grown at Beaucastel. Its first plantings, in 1994, included Mourvèdre, Grenache and Grenache Blanc, Syrah, Counoise and Roussanne.

Next came Picpoul Blanc in 2000, followed by Terret Noir and Clairette Blanche (2010), Picardan (2013), Vaccarèse, Cinsault and Bourboulenc (2016), and, finally, Muscardin in 2019.

Its 14-strong, single-varietal range covers each of these. Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s appellation body cites 13 allowable grape varieties, but it only counts Grenache once.

A debut for Muscardin

Tablas Creek brought over a fresh wave of Beaucastel plant material in 2003, but US officials quarantined varieties for varying lengths of time.

‘Poor Muscardin stayed in quarantine until 2018,’ said Haas, in a winery blog post.

Now in the bottle, he said the variety ‘has lovely floral character, pretty pomegranate fruit, bright acids, an herby complexity like walking on a Provencal hillside, and a little sneaky grip of tannins on the finish.’ 

There will be a small amount of Muscardin 2024, he said, following up on the small-scale 2023-vintage debut.

‘We’re also looking for the opportunity to get a little more Muscardin in the ground, so we’re looking at potential quantities more like 50-100 cases instead of 25.’

Tablas Creek said it would introduce its Muscardin at an industry event, but will also hold some back to see how it evolves.

Look out for an upcoming in depth analysis, alongside reviews of the wines, by our Rhône correspondent Matt Walls.

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As I snaked my way uphill through vineyards of Viognier and Syrah towards Domaine Verzier in Chavanay, I saw a lone figure silhouetted at the top of the hill.

When I eventually pulled into the driveway, there she was again, to my left: a tall statue of the Virgin Mary – the Madone d’Izeras – surveying the vines beneath her. To my right, taller still, stood a crane, pulling up new buildings.

Ahead of me – between the old world and the new – was the current Verzier winery. It was fully functioning but in disarray, with barrels, tanks, pipes and boxes stacked everywhere, waiting for their spacious new home to take shape.

Maxime Verzier emerged from the chaos to greet me. After a blustery walk around the vineyards, we sought shelter from a rampaging Mistral to taste his range.

It was a peek into a possible future for the northern Rhône.

Scroll down for notes and scores for six Domaine Verzier wines

Branching out

Maxime is tattooed, relaxed and confident, and tasting with him felt more like I was visiting an estate in New Zealand or Australia. It turns out he’s worked a season at Radford Dale in Stellenbosch, a producer I’ve always admired for its low intervention wines and innovative approach.

This approach has clearly rubbed off here.

‘We’re quite poor in varieties here,’ says Maxime. There are around 30 different grapes permitted in IGP Collines Rhodaniennes, ‘but nobody uses them,’ he says. ‘It’s a shame.’

So for his IGP Collines Rhodaniennes Bohème, he blends Viognier with Chenin Blanc – he’s quite possibly the only person to be growing this variety in the northern Rhône.

‘I love Chenin Blanc, and it has the freshness and acidity to balance Viognier,’ he says.

I was cautiously curious – or curiously cautious – but the blend works. What’s more, it weighs in at just 12% ABV.

In red, he’s planted some Mondeuse; next he plans to introduce some esoteric local grapes such as Chatus and Mornen Noir; Gamay too.

‘60 years ago there was loads of Gamay in Chavanay,’ he says, and he intends to blend it with Syrah.

South Africa to St-Joseph

Most of what he makes, however, is St-Joseph. As the cheapest red in the range, Empreinte could be described as his entry-level cuvée. It might more accurately be described as a wine that sets the scene – or a statement of intent.

Like all his wines, it’s certified biodynamic (they’ve worked organically since Maxime’s grandfather made the wines). And, as with his other St-Josephs, the vines are grown at 320m on granite around the estate in Chavanay, and they’re whole-bunch fermented with natural yeasts.

‘My style is not to “trick”,’ says Maxime, ‘so there are no additions apart from sulphites – no ascorbic acid, no gum arabic – so very natural, and as close to the terroir as possible.’

Strictly speaking however, these aren’t natural wines. Not just because he adds sulphites, but also because Maxime is ‘quite pro-filtration,’ he says, as a means to keep his wines on track.

Rather than natural, a better way to describe his reds might be clean, low intervention.

Transparent style

The result is a suite of St-Josephs that feel transparent. Like a motor with a Perspex lid, you feel like you can see the inner workings within each wine. They are detailed, easy to read and highly representative of where they’re grown.

As you taste through his St-Josephs – Madone and then Sibylline – the vines get older, the macerations slightly longer. These both spend 18 months in demi-muids, but new oak is kept to a minimum.

‘The best élevage is in barrel, but I hate the taste of wood in wine,’ he says.

These are more concentrated and structured, but they don’t lose their sense of fresh drinkability.

When I arrived at the estate, with new buildings only part-finished, I wondered if I should have waited for a year or two for the works to be completed. But having tasted the wines, there was no need. The future’s already here.

Whether by happenstance or design, Maxime is making exactly the kind of wines that more and more of us want to drink. They’re going to need that extra space.

Six Domaine Verzier wines to try

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Let me begin with a quick story about a different winery – the anti-Beaurenard, if you like. I won’t mention its name, but it’s Italian.

I drank one of its wines that was so delicious I shared a photo of the bottle with friends in a WhatsApp group. Fresh, structured, with an array of herbs and dried flowers – they should look out for it, I said.

‘Oh THAT guy,’ came the replies. It turned out the winemaker had made some vile comments on Facebook. I searched them up and read them for myself. Then I put the cork back in the bottle.

The next day, I poured myself another glass but I couldn’t enjoy it. It’s hard to separate the art from the artist when you have to swallow their work.

Winemakers tend to be a friendly and collegiate bunch, so this kind of experience is rare. It’s more common that a drinking experience is elevated by knowing the people behind the label – as it is with Domaine de Beaurenard.

Scroll down for notes and scores of Domaine de Beaurenard’s Cuvée Spéciale Boisrenard

Family values

When you’ve been visiting wine regions for a number of years, sometimes you get to witness the changing of the guard, as one generation gradually hands over the reins to the next.

When I started writing about the Rhône, Beaurenard owners Daniel and Frédéric Coulon were always helpful in my research and tactful in answering my occasionally stupid questions.

Today I’m more likely to meet with Daniel’s sons Victor and Antonin, the 8th generation of Coulons, who joined the estate in 2016 and 2017.

Thankfully, they also put up with my occasionally stupid questions just as graciously.

This is a family of genuine wine lovers – they share and talk about wine of all kinds with unfailing enthusiasm, and they often make a few clandestine cuvées just for fun.

Last time I visited, they opened a new Châteauneuf for me to try called Beaurenard Le Lieu Dit, a blend of 75% Cinsault, the rest Grenache and white varieties, all co-planted – catnip for Cinsault-lovers like me.

They do great work to support the appellation more broadly. They have 70ha spread over Châteauneuf, Rasteau and Côtes-du-Rhône, all of which is farmed biodynamically.

This approach tends to make for better wines, but it’s good for local biodiversity too, from which everyone benefits.

Being staunch believers in Châteauneuf’s heritage grapes, the family have also established a conservatory for all 18 varieties.

Some, such as Piquepoul Gris and Clairette Rose, are hard to find at local vine nurseries, so the Coulon family help neighbouring estates by providing cuttings.

They are deeply invested in their village and its future.

Boisrenard

Despite the occasional one-off cuvée, the heart of Beaurenard’s Châteauneuf range consists of four wines: their red and white tradition bottling, and their red and white cuvée spéciale, called Boisrenard.

I recently paid Antonin a visit to taste eight vintages of their red Boisrenard, from 2023 back to 1995.

Today, most Châteauneuf cuvées spéciales are parcel selections, but Boisrenard is different. It’s an old vine cuvée, but the vineyards change from year to year. Some are always included, such as a plot of 102-year-old vines in lieu-dit Cabrières.

But other sites are selected when they’ve performed particularly well in any given vintage.

As such, the grape blend differs from year to year – and given that many of their plots are co-planted, it’s hard to know the precise breakdown anyway.

That said, a typical vintage contains between 70-80% Grenache, and all the other permitted Châteauneuf grapes will find their way in to some extent.

‘The grapes are in service of something bigger,’ says Antonin, ‘the plot and what it brings is more important.’

Until 2022 it was all destemmed, and even now their use of whole bunches is restricted to around 10%. ‘I want people to drink a place, not a technique,’ says Antonin.

In the same spirit, the wine is matured in large neutral barrels of different sizes, with no (or very little) new wood.

As such, it’s impossible to define Boisrenard – ‘we’ve changed many things over time and we’ll keep on changing it,’ says Antonin, varying fermentation and maturation vessels, sulphite additions, and other elements over the years.

‘Essentially it’s just a concept of old vines from our estate,’ he says.

A characterful style

So how does Boisrenard differ from their red tradition? ‘My brother Victor says it’s the same wine, just with much more intensity,’ says Antonin. F

rom an outsider’s perspective, I would add that it always has impressive depth, it often has a saline edge to the fruit, and it usually displays tensile tannins which help the wine to age.

In fact, some vintages require long ageing to soften. Boisrenard often takes on umami notes as it evolves, making for a savoury, food-friendly style of Châteauneuf.

That this cuvée doesn’t come from a single plot means that each vintage has a character all of its own. But when put together there is a marked family resemblance – athletic and chiselled.

Rather like the Coulons themselves.

Knowing that the wine is made by such great people doesn’t change its intrinsic quality of course. But when you open a bottle, it’s an added bonus to know you’re supporting the good guys.

Domaine de Beaurenard’s Cuvée Spéciale Boisrenard

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There are many tall tales around the origins of Syrah – also known as Shiraz.

One claimed that it was Rome’s legions that brought the grape to southern France. The soldiers had been in Sicily before and brought with them vines from the city of Syracuse.

But then Pliny the Elder claimed that it was a variety called Vitis syriaca that came from Syria.

Later still a legend emerged that its origins lay further to the east, around the ancient Persian city of Shiraz.

But the truth is that Syrah is a Rhône grape through and through. In 1998, DNA testing showed its parents were Mondeuse Blanche and a (now little-used) black variety called Dureza.

It’s a telling irony that while Syrah’s origin stories talk of it coming from overseas when it’s actually a Rhône Valley native, its modern story has been all about finding new homes around the world.

Let’s take a look at where Syrah has ended up, as well as delicious examples tasted recently by both the Decanter team and our expert contributors.

Scroll down for 16 must-try Syrah/Shiraz

Rhône Valley and southern France

Syrah’s home is along the banks of the long, drifting Rhône that wends its way from the Alps to the Mediterranean.

The northern half of the valley in particular is pure Syrah territory (occasionally mixed with a smidgen of Viognier).

It’s here, in the vineyards of Côte-Rôtie, Cornas and Hermitage that Syrah achieves what many see as its smoky, spicy, peppery majesty.

In the southern half of the valley Syrah tends to play a supporting role to Grenache and other varieties, and this also true of the numerous wines produced across the appellations of the Languedoc.

If you want the Syrah experience without a price tag as steep as some of the best vineyard sites, however, then look to St-Joseph and Crozes-Hermitage for some increasingly delicious examples.

Australia

After the Rhône, say Syrah to a wine fan and they’ll probably mention Australia.

While on his travels finding cuttings to send back to Australia, James Busby remarked on this tale in his notes. Syrah was first known in Australia as ‘Hermitage’ or the older toponym ‘Scyras’.

But after EU protections were put in place a change of name was needed and ‘Scyras’ got a new ‘Strine’ inflection which, coupled with the old Shiraz legend, might be how the name has stuck the way it has Down Under.

Either way, the reference for Australian Shiraz is Barossa Valley, which the likes of Henschke, Torbreck and Yalumba call home.

Aussie Shiraz has a reputation for being bigger in every sense than its French cousins and while that holds true to a point, as with most varieties the current trend is for freshness and greater nuance.

And Shiraz is grown right across the country’s wine regions, with McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills among those with both the cool sites and old vines that make for a truly winning combination.

It’s also frequently blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as appearing in the classic southern European-inspired ‘GSM’ blends (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre).

Click here to see notes and scores for nearly 5,000 Syrah tasted by Decanter

Syrah around the world

There are few places where Syrah dominates in quite the way it does in the Rhône and Australia but its presence is felt globally – especially anywhere with a warm, Mediterranean-style climate.

Looking elsewhere in Europe, one surprising source of Syrah is Switzerland. This landlocked country is where the source of the Rhône rises and there’s a pocket of the Valais where it thrives in the sheltered mountain valleys.

It crops up in southern Portugal and Italy though usually as a blending partner. Across the Mediterranean in Israel and Lebanon there’s some strong Syrah and Syrah-led blends emerging with plenty of potential.

A land where Syrah is rising fast is South Africa. Since the end of Apartheid, its been one of the country’s fastest-growing red varieties.

It’s the backbone of the incredibly popular The Chocolate Block label and the pure-Syrah Porseleinberg, as well as the Mullineux-made trio of Schist, Granite and Iron which shows off some serious terroir flex.

Not to be out-done by their neighbours, New Zealand has a good line in tightly-grained, very elegant Syrah. Look out for wines from the north of the islands, especially Hawke’s Bay.

In the US, Syrah has never had the clout of Cabernet or Pinot but it has a strong, almost cultish following among its fans.

In California, it crops up frequently in Sine Qua Non’s eclectic range of wines and it has pockets of vines throughout the state.

It’s true US foothold though is Washington State, especially the Walla Walla AVA. Up in Canada, the southern half of the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia also allows for Syrah to thrive.

And finally, in the southern half of the Americas it is Chile that flies Syrah’s banner highest in both its coastal and mountain sites.

16 must-try Syrah

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When it comes to extreme vintages, I’m pretty circumspect. I was never a great fan of wines from 2003, which was an exceptionally hot and dry year.

But a recent tasting of 50 2022 St-Josephs painted a picture of a surprisingly strong vintage despite an even more severe growing season than 2003.

In 2003, winemakers didn’t know how to react to the extreme heat. But 2022 came after a succession of roasting years, during which winemakers honed their methods.

This time, they were ready.

Scroll down for notes and scores for 2022 St-Joseph in bottle

Record-breaking extremes

To describe the weather as extreme in 2022 is no exaggeration. A weather station in Orange recorded the hottest May on record. It counted 37 days when temperatures reached over 35°C – only 2003 saw more.

And it wasn’t just the days that were sweltering; average nighttime temperatures were the hottest ever recorded.

It was also exceptionally dry. Between 15 October 2021 and 1 September 2022, only 300mm of rain was recorded – compared to 600mm in a normal year.

In summary, between budbreak and harvest, 2022 was the hottest, driest year in the Rhône since records began in 1950.

Easy for growers

Conditions like this were felt throughout the Rhône Valley, and St-Joseph was no different. For winemakers, it made for a relaxed year.

‘It was easy to manage in the vineyard,’ says Ludovic Izerable of Domaine Lionnet, who has vineyards in the southern part of the appellation near Cornas.

Graeme Bott of Domaine Bott, located at the northern end of St-Joseph, agreed.

‘There was no water for downy mildew to be an issue and it was too hot for powdery mildew to be an issue either,’ he says, ‘Work overall in the vineyards was quite straightforward and it was one of the years which required a lower amount of manpower due to the slower development of the vines.’

Tough on vines

The harsh conditions were tough on the vines, however. Growth was stunted due to the heat and drought, and young vines struggled.

Damien Brisset, head winemaker at Ferraton, says, ‘we had to adapt by practicing minimalist viticulture – no leaf plucking, no trimming the canopy – and also by regulating the crop load in some plots through green harvesting, to limit blockages in ripening during August and September.’

Winemakers also had to modify the way they worked in the cellar.

‘We chose to use a higher than normal percentage of whole bunches in the reds and worked the wines with just one short pump over per day,’ says Bott.

Brisset also opted for, ‘the gentlest possible extractions’.

Powerful reds

When I tasted the 2022 red St-Josephs from barrel, there was significant stylistic variation – most had the power you would expect from such a year, but some were surprisingly lean due to blockages in ripening due to heat and drought.

After some time in bottle, this is still the case; some are light, aromatic and best drunk young. But most are in the other camp – powerful, densely tannic, darkly fruited.

So it’s a vintage with something for everyone.

Inevitably, some of the wines were less exciting. This was usually down to uneven or blocked ripening resulting in a green, bitter streak or a lack of depth. Some were very reductive; others were over-oaked.

But largely, 2022 is a very good vintage for St-Joseph reds – one with energy, intensity and serious tannic structure.

Intense whites

The whites broadly share this drive and concentration, with plenty of extract and salinity. Oak can help accentuate this, but it wasn’t always needed in 2022 thanks to the natural intensity of the fruit.

In hot vintages, whites can be prone to flabbiness – such as in 2018. But sometimes the effect is to accentuate their intensity and salinity, such as 2010 and 2017 – and 2022.

Bott was happy with both colours. ‘It is a very good vintage for both whites and reds which is not always the case,’ he says.

‘I think the reason being is that with the heat and lack of rain during the last ripening period the grapes reduced in size and concentrated both sugar and acidity, similar to 2019 in Burgundy, so we actually kept reasonable acidity levels considering the vintage.’

Wines for ageing

After a year or so in bottle, usually I would expect most St-Josephs to be ready to start drinking, but most 2022s need another couple of years in bottle to soften.

They will have unusual longevity too – typically around 10 years, but some will go on to mature and develop for 20. Be aware that the more structured wines are likely to feel quite hard and serious in youth. It’s a vintage that will really blossom in time.

So if you enjoy the smoky complexity of aged northern Rhône Syrah, 2022 St-Joseph will prove a particularly cost effective way of stocking your cellar. Some of the whites will prove deliciously long-lasting too.

‘If we compare statistics, 2022 would be similar to 2003, however it was not at all the same style of wine produced,’ says Bott, ‘much lower alcohol levels and more balanced ripeness.’

In 2003, no one had experienced such heat and drought before, so it caught winemakers by surprise, many of them were still on holiday when they needed to start picking.

In 2022, they were prepared – and the results are so much better.

St-Joseph 2022: The wines to try

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