Mont brouilly  which rose up over 35 million years ago  dominates the beaujolais landscape and is home to some of the region's most prized vineyards.jpg copy

Changing Perspectives in Beaujolais

France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured

Josh Raynolds, Aug 2021

Two-thousand nineteen provides a somewhat welcome return to a mostly classic style of Beaujolais following the often weighty, ripe, and dark-fruited wines of 2018 and 2017. Compared to 2016, 2014 and 2011, most of the 2019s are definitely on the richer side, but I ran across few examples that approached the weight, much less the warmth, of their 2018 and 2017 siblings.

Morgon 1992 burgaud

Cellar Favorite: 1992 Domaine Jean-Marc Burgaud Morgon Côte du Py

cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, France: Rhône & Beaujolais

Neal Martin, Jul 2021

Beaujolais Nouveau fomented an assumption that the region’s wine cannot age. Humbug! It’s more a case that too few wine connoisseurs have the nous to tuck away a few Beaujolais bottles from its finest appellations such as Morgon or Moulin-à-Vent from its finest growers.

Pierre marie clape in his element  presenting a rare%e2%80%a6family's cellar.jpg copy

Domaine A. Clape Cornas: 2012–1987

Verticals & Retrospectives, France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured

Josh Raynolds, Dec 2020

One of the world’s iconic estates, Domaine Auguste Clape has long set the standard for the Cornas appellation and has featured on any Rhône aficionado’s short list of the region’s very best properties. With a mere eight hectares of vines spread across Cornas, Saint-Péray and Côtes-du-Rhône, the Clapes produce two different examples of Cornas, a Saint-Péray, a red Côtes-du-Rhône and a red Vin de France. All of the reds are made with whole clusters and fermented in concrete vats before being moved into ancient, traditional oval foudres for aging. Because of small production (roughly 2,500 cases per vintage, total) and longtime worldwide demand, especially for the flagship Cornas, the wines are not always easy to find. Unfortunately, the world has caught on, and prices have risen sharply as well. These are structured, long-lived wines that are definitely built for the patient consumer. As this retrospective shows, patience is consistently rewarded, even in tough vintages.

Cf october192020 %281%29

Cellar Favorite: 2001 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin Grande Cuvée

cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, France: Rhône & Beaujolais

Josh Raynolds, Oct 2020

Two thousand and one is, without a doubt, one of this generation’s greatest vintages for France’s southern Rhône valley, producing an abundance of rich but balanced and ageworthy wines that are now either in their prime or entering it.

Saint michel sur rho%cc%82ne is home to both top vineyards and some of the region's best cellars copy

Exploring Northern Rhône Whites

France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured

Josh Raynolds, May 2020

The hot growing conditions that defined the 2017, 2018 and 2019 vintages in the Northern Rhône show in the white wines, but the best examples also offer a good bit of energy to counterbalance their richness and ripeness. Simply put, the whites here have never been better, while the top bottlings are easily some of the world’s finest wines.

Some of the most complex and age worthy wines in the world come from the granitic soils of the hermitage hill copy

Northern Rhône: A First Look at the 2019s

France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured

Josh Raynolds, May 2020

While my late-winter visit to the northern Rhône focused primarily on tasting the 2017s and bottled 2018s, I also had a chance to try a good number of 2019s. Like 2018, 2019 was a hot and dry year, but the wines look extremely promising and show an uncanny blend of depth and vivacity.

For centuries  the garnitic soils of the faned hermitage hill have produced some of the most compex  ageworthy wines in the world copy

Power and Energy: The 2018 and 2017 Northern Rhônes

France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured

Josh Raynolds, Apr 2020

Northern Rhône wine lovers whose tastes run to richness and power are going to have a field day with the 2018 and 2017 vintages. While most of the wines tend toward dark fruit character, the best examples also have quite a bit of freshness and energy. That is especially true of the 2018s, which will appeal to readers who prefer a more classic style.

The hilly terrain of vacqueyras is surrounded by forests and local flora  or garrigue  typical of northen provence

Vacqueyras: The Southern Rhône’s Stealth Appellation

France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured

Josh Raynolds, Feb 2020

While its more famous neighbors have long been on the radar of wine lovers and collectors, Vacqueyras and its wines continue to fly under the radar. That is likely to soon change, especially given the consistently fine value these wines offer and the uniformly high quality of recent and upcoming vintages.

High altitude vineyards in gigondas  like at domaine des bosquets  provide optimal conditions wines of balance and freshness. copy

Gigondas Maintains Its Tempo

France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured

Josh Raynolds, Feb 2020

Gigondas, like the rest of the southern Rhône Valley, experienced lows and highs, in that order, in 2017. The low points came at the beginning of the year, when warm weather set off early flowering, and in May, when shatter severely affected Grenache, resulting in significant crop loss across the region. Fortunately, the remainder of the season was picture perfect, if warm, while the quality of the crop was very high.

Large  oval wooden foudres have long been the vessel of choice for raising grenache in ch%c3%a2teauneuf du pape copy

The Riches and Richness of Châteauneuf-du-Pape

France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured

Josh Raynolds, Dec 2019

Châteauneuf-du-Pape fans will find plenty to like from 2017, a vintage marked by consistently warm to hot weather that yielded distinctly rich, fleshy, fruit-driven wines. The growing season presented its share of challenges, and yet the best wines are compelling. Even so, readers need to be selective, as the style of the year is quite particular, and some wines are overdone.