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The Deep Bench of Gigondas
featured, France: Rhône & Beaujolais
, Jan 2023
Like the rest of the Rhône valley, and Europe, Gigondas has been confronting hot, dry weather conditions since 2017. Luckily, the best, most experienced growers and winemakers have handled the situation with a steady hand. Still, there’s no question that many wines from recent vintages are distinctly powerful, often high in alcohol, with more dark fruit character and tannic structure than usual.
Never a Dull Vintage in the Northern Rhône
featured, France: Rhône & Beaujolais
, Dec 2022
It’s an interesting time for wineries in the Northern Rhône valley. On the one hand, demand for their wines, especially for small-production, single-vineyard bottlings, is higher than ever. On the other, nature hasn’t been playing nice for the last several vintages. Luckily, the best producers have handled the increasingly challenging conditions with aplomb.
Cellar Favorite: 1982 Domaine Georges Vernay Condrieu
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, France: Rhône & Beaujolais
, Oct 2022
A lot of Condrieu is consumed in its youth. “It doesn’t really age,” remarked one friend. I recently tested the veracity of that statement when I joined a friend at Noble Rot restaurant, forewarning that I intended to serve a bottle completely blind without a clue how it would show. Personally, I have never drunk a Condrieu more than a decade old, but there is something thrilling about venturing into unchartered vinous waters.
Cellar Favorite: 1978 Etienne Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, France: Rhône & Beaujolais
, Oct 2022
La Mouline debuted in 1966, a year after the family purchased a 1.5-hectare limestone-rich plot of old Syrah vines interpolated with around 10% Viognier in the heart of Côte Blonde from esteemed winemaker, Joannes Dervieux.
Cellar Favorite: 1978 Domaine Alain Voge Cornas
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, France: Rhône & Beaujolais
, Oct2022
Every now and then, I am reminded of the greatness of mature Rhônes, especially from Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie and Cornas. Alain Voge was instrumental in putting Cornas on the map.
The Wines That Shaped My Life
France: Champagne, New Zealand, France: Bordeaux, featured, Germany, France: Burgundy, France: Rhône & Beaujolais
, Mar 2022
A charity dinner themed around the significant wines of my career threw up a couple of surprises. I doubt DRC and Blue Nun have ever found themselves reviewed in the same article. In these days of bleak headlines, the vignettes accompanying these eclectic wines hopefully put a smile on your face.
Cellar Favorite: 2011 Matthieu Barret Cornas Billes Noires
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, France: Rhône & Beaujolais
, Feb 2022
Cornas has been having a moment for the last decade, thanks to the excellent work of a new generation of winemakers who have breathed new life into what were once the most rustic, wild wines of the northern Rhône.
Cellar Favorite: 2009 Marcel Lapierre Morgon Cuvée Marcel Lapierre
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, France: Rhône & Beaujolais
, Jan 2022
Marcel Lapierre was a living legend in Beaujolais when he passed away at the age of sixty, in October 2010, just after harvest. Such was his renown that his obituary was published in the New York Times as well as in major newspapers across the globe.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Weathers the Challenges and Changes
featured, France: Rhône & Beaujolais
, Oct 2021
Châteauneuf-du-Pape has plenty to offer in 2019, 2018 and 2017, although not in the quantities of the preceding two years. All three vintages produced several wines that are extremely user-friendly, offering abundant, expressive fruit and adequate but not forbidding structure, which is what the market is demanding more and more of these days.
Cellar Favorite: 2006 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, France: Rhône & Beaujolais
, Sep 2021
It isn’t too often that a Cellar Favorite is also a currently available library release. That’s the case with the gorgeous 2006 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a wine that I marginally underrated when I tasted it from barrel in November 2008 and then in bottle a year after that.