Walls: Brune and blonde soils in Côte-Rôtie - do they really make all the difference?

There are two words that crop up more than any other when exploring Côte-Rôtie in the Northern Rhône: brune (brown or brunette in English) and blonde (blonde).

They’re used in cuvée names, names of lieux-dits, regional designations and even local legends. Effectively what they refer to is the two main soil types: dark brown mica schist (brune) and pale yellow gneiss (blonde).

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 28 Côte-Rôtie wines

The way these terms are used can be confusing to English speakers. Once this is clarified, we’ll take a look at these two different soil types and how they influence wine style, longevity and quality.

There’s some argument as to how important these soils types are when it comes to the resulting style of Côte-Rôtie, but it’s a convenient starting point for understanding the appellation.

Confusing terminology

Today, there are 73 official lieux-dits in Côte-Rôtie. Looming over the town of Ampuis that sits at the heart of the appellation there are two lieux-dits that sit almost side-by-side: one is called Côte Brune, the other Côte Blonde.

But because the gneiss bedrock runs from lieu-dit Côte Blonde southwards, and the schist runs from lieu-dit Côte Brune northwards, often the entire southern half of the appellation is referred to locally as ‘the Côte Blonde’ and the entire northern half is called ‘the Côte Brune’.

This can create confusion, so for the sake of clarity I’ll use terms like ‘blonde soils’ or ‘brune side’ instead, and save Côte Blonde and Côte Brune for referring to the specific lieux-dits.

The nature of the soils

When it comes to geology, both the blonde and the brune soils come from a similar geological era, going back 300 million years. The difference was created through the amount of pressure and temperature the rock experienced over time.

Jacques Grange, technical director and chief winemaker at Delas, worked his first vintage in the Rhône in 1981 and understands this place better than most. ‘We are in no way seeing differences as large and as striking as what we see in Châteauneuf-du-Pape… or in Hermitage,’ he says. ‘Between the pure granite of Les Bessards and Le Méal, which are in different geological eras millions of years apart. With the brune and the blonde, we have soils of the same origin, which are different only in detail.’

Cote Rotie soils — Schist (left), gneiss-(right)

Different they are, however, and not just in colour, as Kévin Garon from Domaine Garon explains. ‘The blonde side is very well-draining, quite acid… it’s much paler in colour, sandy, stony, there’s hardly any clay on the blonde side. On the contrary, on the brune side, with its schist and mica schist, the bedrock is heavily decomposed, the roots go into it easily, the soils are brown, and the main difference is it has more clay.’

Pierre Burgaud of Domaine Burgaud adds that ‘it’s not just the type of bedrock that counts… there’s also the type of arable earth we have too, that’s to say the amount of clay, the level of decomposition of the bedrock, and the amount of limestone in that arable earth,’ and this can vary within individual parcels. To him, the tidy division between the blonde and brune sides is a ‘big simplification’.

Brune styles and blonde styles

Nevertheless, the two main soil types of Côte-Rôtie are broadly associated with different styles of wine, and this is mainly down to the amount of clay and how that affects the vine. ‘The two soils don’t act exactly the same,’ says Grange. ‘If I had to determine a principal criterion that differentiates the two, it’s how the plant takes up water.’

Vines planted on the heavier clay soils associated with the brune side benefit from a more steady, regular supply of water. This is less the case on the free-draining blonde side. This affects the way the grapes ripen and progress through the season.

Grange explains that vines grown on soils with larger quantities of clay tend to suffer fewer episodes of stress and produce wines that are richer in polyphenols – ‘richer in quantity,’ he says, ‘quality is another subject.’

‘Wines from brune soils are more structured,’ he continues, ‘more broad-shouldered, and on the blonde side more mineral and tense – where the tannins appear more delicate.’

In very dry vintages, vines from the brune side can perform better thanks to their access to water. In very wet vintages, the opposite can be true – the draining soils of the blonde side can produce more balanced wines.

Viognier and ageability

These soils might behave slightly differently, and produce wines in different styles, but the work in the vineyard and the cellar isn’t predicated on soil type.

One difference however is the use of Viognier. One of the quirks of the appellation is that up to 20% Viognier is allowed in the blend (though in practice more than 10% is rare). It’s more commonly planted on the blonde side, and it does seem to accentuate the naturally perfumed, floral style of the Syrah grown on these slopes.

Using a splash of Viognier can make for wines that are very appealing when young. Perhaps this is why wines from blonde soils have a reputation for not having the same longevity as those grown on the brune side. But not everyone agrees.

‘Generally speaking, wines from the brune side age better,’ says Garon, ‘because they’re better balanced – in tannins, acidity – but in classic vintages like 2016, 2010, 2006, very well-balanced years – both can age for a long time. The structure of the wine is more similar in years like that. If there’s everything the plant needs, balanced pH, good acidity, good tannic structure – blonde and brune can both age well.’

Of the Côte-Rôties I tasted below, five that showed a ‘blonde’ typicity are as follows:

Domaine Benjamin et David Duclaux Coteaux de Tupin 2018,
Guigal La Mouline 2017,
Domaine Georges Vernay Blonde du Seigneur 2018,
Pierre Gaillard Esprit de Blonde 2018,
Christophe Semaska Lancement 2017.

Five with a classically ‘brune’ expression were:

Domaine Garon Les Rochins 2019,
Guigal La Turque 2017,
Delas La Landonne 2019,
François Villard Montlys 2018,
Domaine de Bonserine La Viallière 2018.

Outside the historic heart

When talking about the brune and blonde sides, these stylistic effects are felt most strongly at the historic heart of Côte-Rôtie before the appellation was extended. The more granitic soils at the far south of the appellation near Condrieu have a slightly different expression to classic blonde soils.

As do those at the far north in the commune of Saint-Cyr. ‘As you go further north the influence of the microclimate, influenced by the closeness to the river and the narrowness of the valley and its exposition… these factors are more important than the geology,’ says Grange.

The vines grown on the two different sides of this ‘roasted slope’ do have naturally different expressions: lighter, more perfumed on the blonde side; deeper, more structured on the brune. But this is just one aspect of terroir, and one that can be overemphasised. When it comes to the finished wine, winemaking choices and élevage can have just as great an effect.

‘It’s a bit of a legend, a lovely story. It’s still part of this beautiful appellation of Côte-Rôtie, but fundamentally, for me, it’s almost secondary,’ says Grange. ‘What’s important for me, it’s the way of working, the yield, the way it’s vinified, the way it’s matured. But I think you can find beautiful examples of Côte-Rôtie on pure blonde soils or pure brune ones, that can both be among the greatest wines in the Rhône Valley.’

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Matt Walls is an award-winning freelance wine writer and consultant, contributing regular articles to various print and online titles including Decanter, where he is a contributing editor. He has particular interest in the Rhône Valley; he is chair of the Rhône panel at the Decanter World Wine Awards and is the owner of travel and events company www.rhoneroots.com.

Walls: Brune and blonde soils in Côte-Rôtie – do they really make all the difference?