Best value Northern Rhône 2018 – Top buys
The Northern Rhône Valley may have a reputation for premium wines, but there's value to be found here too if you know where to look. Matt Walls selects 15 wines from his 2018 Rhône report which offer great quality as well as brilliant value...
It was a very hot and dry year in the Northern Rhône which meant that the crop was ripe and plentiful.
While many producers achieved balanced and lush wines – some with incredible depth and focus – there were wines across the region which lacked acidity and/or suffered from high alcohol.
Quick link: Northern Rhône 2018 – full vintage report plus top scoring wines
Wherever you look though there’s value to be found in 2018, with Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph the home of some of the year’s best value red wines and Condrieu and Saint-Péray offering real bang for your buck for whites.
The Rhône contains so much variety that value can be found in plenty of other appellations too.
Here, Matt Walls picks out his 15 top value wines of the vintage – all wines are likely to be priced below £25/$40 when released, bench-marked on 2016 and 2017 vintages of the same wine.
It’s well worth adding the wines below to the ‘My Wines’ section of the website as a reference point for when they are released.
See Matt Walls’ best value Northern Rhône 2018 wines:
See also
Northern Rhône 2018 report: The top scorersSouthern Rhône 2018 report: The top scorers
Domaine Vincent Paris, Les Côtes, St-Joseph, Rhône, France, 2018
This has lifted spicy aromas comprising cedar, cigar wrapper and star anise all over blackberry fruit. It’s medium-bodied with vivid black fruit on the palate...
2018
Domaine Vincent ParisSt-Joseph
Aurélien Chatagnier, Condrieu, Rhône, France, 2018
This has almond nougat on the nose, along with some floral hints and lychee - a nice sense of freshness, balance and acidity. It’s rounded,...
2018
Aurélien ChatagnierCondrieu
Domaine Jolivet, L'Instinct, St-Joseph, Rhône, France, 2018
Blackberry and blackcurrant with a touch of blackcurrant leaf and bay. It has earthy, enjoyably textural tannins that suggest a proportion of whole bunch. Long...
2018
Domaine JolivetSt-Joseph
Domaine Guy Farge, Harmonie, Cornas, Rhône, France, 2018
There's a touch of cured salami and leather on the nose of this meaty wine. Herbal and savoury. Medium- to full-bodied style, very dry and...
2018
Domaine Guy FargeCornas
Domaine Yann Chave, Hermitage, Rhône, France, 2018
<p>Sappy, generous blackberry and loganberry fruit here - this has some depth, and Hermitage muscle. Tannins are plentiful and ripe, just a little fibrous, and...
2018
Domaine Yann ChaveHermitage
Domaine Combier, Laurent Combier, Crozes-Hermitage, Rhône, France, 2018
This is a fresh and refined style that accentuates the acidity and textural finesse over concentration or body. An aerial style, with aromatic raspberry and...
2018
Domaine CombierCrozes-Hermitage
André Perret, Condrieu, Rhône, France, 2018
This is classic and very drinkable. A touch of appealing fresh grassiness to the jasmine aromas. It’s very rounded, very full and generous in puppy...
2018
André PerretCondrieu
Domaine du Coulet, Et la Bannière, Crozes-Hermitage, Rhône, France, 2018
This is an exuberant, juicy, fairly open knit and aromatic style, displaying an array of juniper, raspberry and garrigue herb notes. It’s powerful and friendly...
2018
Domaine du CouletCrozes-Hermitage
Domaine Melody, Friandise, Crozes-Hermitage, Rhône, France, 2018
This is compulsively drinkable stuff with a little touch of spicy reduction that lifts the exuberant berry fruit, and a touch of dark chocolate adding...
2018
Domaine MelodyCrozes-Hermitage
Domaine Les 4 Vents, Crozes-Hermitage, Rhône, France, 2018
<p>This is a characterful Crozes - balanced and interesting. It has a big natural swell on the palate, with quite an impact, then rolls away...
2018
Domaine Les 4 VentsCrozes-Hermitage
Domaine Rostaing, Les Lézardes, Collines Rhodaniennes, Rhône, France, 2018
This has vibrant, lush fruit and remarkably grippy tannins. It’s very ripe but still fresh and very concentrated for an IGP. Keep for a year...
2018
Domaine RostaingCollines Rhodaniennes
Gabriel Meffre, Saint Etienne, St-Joseph, Rhône, France, 2018
<p>Expressive mango flavour here, with good intensity and freshness throughout and ends lifted and refreshing. A little jasmine adds interest. You could drink this with...
2018
Gabriel MeffreSt-Joseph
Cave de Tain, Fleur de Roc, St-Péray, Rhône, France, 2018
<p>This is very drinkable with floral, fennel and frond aromas here. This is fresh despite the full body with a little bitter twist on the...
2018
Cave de TainSt-Péray
Domaine Guy Farge, Grain de Silex, St-Péray, Rhône, France, 2018
This is a concentrated style, with lemon and lime alongside mango. It’s powerful on the palate with sappy, mouthcoating flavour and a long finish that...
2018
Domaine Guy FargeSt-Péray
Domaine Alain Voge, Harmonie, St-Péray, Rhône, France, 2018
A lifted meadow-flower fragrance here alongside succulent yellow plum fruits, with a soft, opulently full-bodied palate. It has a sense of tension which helps counteract...
2018
Domaine Alain VogeSt-Péray
