Northern Rhône 2023: The connoisseur’s guide

Immensely aromatic, with pink peppercorns, Turkish delight... just an unbelievable nose. The aromatics flood the full-bodied palate, which is incredibly silky and fine. It's a...

This has a beautiful scent of berries, smoke, earth, iodine and flowers (rose and violet), with herbal nuances and potpourri. It's so fine and fresh...

A tasting of the constituent barrels, so this is a provisional score. Gerine has a touch of cold-fireplace aroma from the stems, the tannins are...

This has beguiling smoky, flinty, petrichor notes. There's great energy, focus and salinity, it's straight as an arrow. The tannins are pure, fine and fully...

Iron, iodine and violets. Remarkably lifted for La Landonne, but still assertive, with serious energy and tension. Austerity is usually the watchword for this lieu-dit,...

A spicy style with a good sense of ripeness, it's really quite mouthcoating but with super-fine tannins, good acidity and a long finish. Exceptionally fine,...

Very cloudy. Incredible aromas. Bright, lifted lavender, black olive, violet and a touch of cassis. It's lower in alcohol, very fresh and light in body,...

Powerful, explosive, peppery mulberry fruit. Very smoky in style, with iodine notes and lots of dense, ripe tannin underneath driving fruits. Very fresh and focused,...

Unusually deep and dense for a 2023, but with all the freshness of the vintage. Mouthcoating bold tannins, deep, earthy and bassy, with floral top...

A very attractive raspberry-scented style, this is perfumed, fresh and pretty. It's very much Blonde in style, with exceptionally fine tannins and lovely minerality. Not...

A very complete wine, with lovely tannic finesse and plenty of freshness and concentration. Bright acidity, with a tobacco note. It's not quite as immediately...

A tasting of the constituent parts, so this is a provisional score. The 2023 is less ripe in style than the 2022. It has plentiful...

Beautifully perfumed, with violets and juicy black fruits. Very smooth in tannin, actually quite soft, it's approachable for Les Bessards. WIth its tangy plum sauce,...

Very soft, generous, enveloping tannins, with violets and rose, blackberries and raspberries. Has good concentration and ripeness. It's a bold, rounded style of Côte-Rôtie with...

Rose, incense and star anise, this is like a Côte Blonde on the nose, but then has the silky, soft-yet-bold tannins of a Côte Brune...

Full-bodied for La Viallière, with inky fruit and super-fine, fur-coat tannins. It has black cherry and graphite flavours – there's a graphite mineral edge to the...

Really compelling mulberry fruit, smoky and so enticing, with notes of white pepper and intense blackberry, blackcurrant and black cherry. It's sappy and delicious, structured,...

Distinctly spicy, clove and cinnamon notes. Very fresh and precise, with good acidity. It's a medium-bodied style, not hugely concentrated, but it will last into...

An earthy expression of Hermitage, with dried fruit notes to the blackberry and cassis. Has weight and power, is properly ripe, with quite warming alcohol...

A very good, full-bodied wine, but it doesn't quite have the intensity of the best vintages. That's not a bad thing necessarily, as 2023 accentuates...

Beautiful nose, very lifted, with violets, black olive, blackberry and cassis. Has a good sense of fullness and ripeness on the palate – it's full,...

A lighter style of Hermitage, spicy and brisk, but the tannins are very fine and it has good concentration. Acidity is well balanced and there's...

This is fuller in body than the La Germine this year, with generous and mouthcoating fine tannins. It has perfect ripeness and lovely acid balance....

The whole-bunch element really helps to temper the new-oak spice, which is present but less evident compared to the other La Las. With punchy, bold...