Rhône 2018 En Primeur: Full report

In Brief: Rhone 2018 En Primeur

Northern Rhône 2018

4/5

Very hot and dry, resulting in a plentiful ripe crop. Many wines with low acidity and potent alcohol, but those that could achieve balance made impressive wines.

Southern Rhône 2018

3/5

A devastating attack of mildew hit the region in spring. Those who escaped the worst enjoyed a very hot and dry summer, resulting in juicy, generous reds and whites, some surprisingly good.

‘It’s never easy to summarise a Rhône Valley vintage, but in terms of consistency, the 2018 vintage in the Southern and Northern Rhône are poles apart’

For Stéphane Montez of Domaine de Monteillet in Côte-Rôtie it was ‘the vintage everyone dreams about.’ For many producers in the South, it was a disaster.

It’s never easy to summarise a Rhône Valley vintage, but in terms of consistency, the 2018 vintage in the Southern and Northern Rhône are poles apart.

Coming Soon. Quick link: See all Rhône 2018 en primeur tasting notes & scores

It’s not that conditions were wildly different; both ends experienced a wet spring followed by a sweltering summer. In the North, these conditions translated themselves into large yields of ripe fruit – sometimes very ripe. Growers were pleased, occasionally delighted, with the results.

The wet weather in the Southern Rhône however was much more severe and it triggered the worst outbreak of downy mildew winemakers had seen in generations. Jacqueline André of Domaine Pierre André in Châteauneuf-du-Pape said her father has never witnessed anything like it – and he’s 93.

Continue reading below

Rhône 2018 en primeur reports

• Northern Rhône report and top scoring wines 2018

• Southern Rhône report and top scoring wines 2018

• Best value Northern Rhône 2018 wines

I heard countless stories of producers losing half their crop or more. Although not all growers were affected, most would agree with Jean-Paul Daumen of Domaine de la Vieille Julienne, that it was ‘a very stressful year.’ Once this episode had passed, some went on to produce very good wines, generally in the ripe, juicy style of a hot vintage. But many wines lack depth, and even some reliable estates made disappointing wines.

In order to put together a broad selection of exciting wines to share with you, I tasted 1,200 wines and visited many lesser-known domaines that were new to me, and in doing so made a number of exciting discoveries. As always, I’ve covered all the 17 crus of the Southern and Northern Rhône, encompassing a range of styles, prices and colours to make a selection of 300 notable wines that will help you navigate this tricky vintage.

Best Producers in 2018:

You might also like:

See Rhone 2017’s report