Praise continues to pour in for the Domaine Patrick & Christophe Bonnefond. Their Northern Rhône reds are pure syrah, and display an exquisite balance of texture, fruit, subtlety and depth. The wines continue to improve each year -- Josh Raynolds of Vinous declared his tasting this year “the single most impressive set of bottlings I have had here.”
Côtes du Rhônes are a dime a dozen these days. They’re cheap, plentiful, and abundant -- you’ll find them everywhere from a fine restaurant to your local supermarket. Most are mass produced, with low tannin and lots of fruit -- they may lack flaws, but they’re short on character too.
Organic viticulture is the future of winemaking — the majority of our winemakers are organic or in conversion. But at some domaines, it’s also the past. The Domaine du Joncuas in Gigondas turned 100 years old this year, and they’ve practiced organic winemaking, as they put it, “depuis toujours” (“since forever”).
Syrah is at its finest in the Northern Rhône. Appellations such as Hermitage, Côte Rôtie, and Cornas produce transcendent expressions of the grape, combining darkly beautiful notes of blackberry and plum with spices, minerals, and savory umami notes.
The 2017 vintage was an unusual one in the Southern Rhône. Most reds here rely on Grenache for a majority (or at least plurality) of their blend, but in 2017 Grenache vines across the region had a bad Spring flowering, and yields were down dramatically.
Transition to organics/biodynamics may be trendy in winemaking today, but it’s nothing new at the Domaine Pierre André in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Jacqueline André’s grandfather stopped using chemicals in his vines in 1963, and the domaine has been certified organic since 1980 – the first in the appellation.
For years, Gigondas was a savvy wine collector’s secret: near-Châteauneuf-level complexity and richness, at a substantial discount. But even as its name has spread and prices have crept up, the price-value ratio in Gigondas remains unusually good. As Vinous’s Josh Raynolds put it after tasting several hundred cuvées this spring, “in the context of the world’s best wines, almost every…
Sisters Dany and Carol Chastan make exquisite Rhône cuvées using old-school techniques. ambient yeasts, no oak (not even foudres), 100% whole cluster, no fining or filtering. It sounds like a recipe for a big rustic wine, but the Chastan sisters somehow managed to produce wines of superb texture and subtlety.
The Domaine les Goubert is among the most consistent winemakers in our portfolio. No matter the vintage – warm or cool, sunny or wet, easy or difficult -- the Goubert wines are reliably outstanding.
France’s Southern Rhône valley produces rich, smooth red blends. At one end of the spectrum there’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape, famous and long-lived; at the other there’s Côtes du Rhône, uncomplicated and inexpensive. Today’s wine is from the middle.
The Clos du Joncuas might be the most exciting recent find in our portfolio. Based in Gigondas in the Southern Rhône, sisters Dany and Carol Chastan learned their craft from their parents and grandparents, and have themselves been farming organically for 40 years.
As some of you noticed, we underbought rosé this year. Our entire summer’s worth sold out in 15 days, and by June 1 there wasn’t a drop of pink in the entire warehouse. Turns out all those people sitting at home got thirsty when the weather warmed up!
With most socializing happening outdoors these days, we’re getting lots of requests for wines suited for a patio or a picnic. We ran out of most of our everyday wines back when everyone was busy stocking up on pasta and purell. But we’ve just restocked, and none is more welcome than today’s Côtes du Rhône.
Vinous writer Josh Raynolds calls the Domaine du Tunnel “among the top producers of Cornas.” Star winemaker Stephane Robert farms an envious collection of old syrah vines around the tiny appellation, and his wines very much live up to the hype. He’s humble and quiet in person, but his wines are bold, assertive, and charming.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the Rhône Valley’s most famous terroir. Known for its bold, inky rich wines mostly from Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre, the town’s best examples improve for decades, and can cost three figures per bottle.