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Michel Chapoutier has received great acclaim for his Rhone wines |
Rhone’s value won’t send you into the red
One of France’s greatest wine regions may have been struggling to meet demand, but British shops are selling some of the valley’s top drops
ASTUTE lovers of a drop of the red stuff, searching for a bargain, look to the Rhone valley for credible and good value alternatives to more expensive Bordeaux or Burgundy.
The valley is revered as one of France’s greatest red wine regions.
It runs in a thin line from just south of Lyon, to just north of Avignon.
Wine writers often divide the Rhone region into two – the temperate north with its Syrah-dominated blends, and the blisteringly hot and often windswept south, which favours the Grenache noir grape.
The star of the south is Chateauneuf-du-Pape, a wine with a reputation extending back to the 1920s.
The rules allow a blend of up to 13 different grape varieties of which the two main ones are Grenache and Syrah.
The grape content may be uncertain, but one aspect is definite – these wines are never cheap.
The current best buy is the Wetherspoon pub chain’s special offer of a full-sized bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, produced by Caves Saint Pierre at £8.99.
The same producer supplies Tesco’s finest, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, at £11.99.
The Tesco wine has been recommended by several of the nation’s most distinguished wine writers.
The taste is best described as being herbs and spices with a hint of under-ripe, dark-skinned, sour fruits.
Although modern wine-making methods have tamed these wines, they are still at their best with matching food, such as steak, game and beef stews
The bottles are impressive, made from thick green glass and weighing in at more than 600g. The regional name is heavily embossed on to the bottle, above the stick-on label. They convey a sense of old-world substance and class.
Demand for Chateauneuf-du-Pape has grown tremendously over the years.
The world wants this wine and the producers have struggled to satisfy the market and maintain a consistent quality.
Fortunately, there are rival wines from surrounding areas within the southern Rhone. It is these that excite the savvy wine drinker.
Chief among them is the village of Gigondas, a recognised wine area, with its own label since 1971 and the vineyards of Vacqueyras, which obtained recognition in 1990.
Somerfield sell a decent bottle of the latter for £6.49. Gigondas wines are available from most wine stockists.
Cheaper, good quality Rhone wines are grouped under the Côtes du Rhone-Villages label. Grenache noir is the main grape and average yields have been cut to the level of those in the Chateauneuf vineyards. Sainsbury’s has several Villages wines, including an organic version, £5.99, and a Taste the Difference, which is also £5.99.
This is the age of wine experimentation and Michel Chapoutier has received huge acclaim for his Rhone wines.
His biodynamic farming methods have, he claims, produced grapes so healthy and fruity that there is no need to blend. His Chateauneuf ‘La Bernardine’ Chapoutier, is a rarity.
Chapoutier uses only one grape variety – Grenache noir.
Available from independent wine merchant Soho Wine Supply (18 Percy Street, W1 www. sohowine.co.uk) and Oddbins £19.99, Chapoutier’s wine performed poorly in a recent tasting organised by the New Journal’s wine panel, coming second behind Somerfield’s much cheaper Vacqueyras, which costs £6.99. |
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