Inter Rhone and Rhone Valley Vineyards have been successfully educating us on their wines for decades. Your scribe has been fortunate to attend many of these seminars including the most recent one held in Vancouver on November 19 at Delara Restaurant. They supplied an updated tasting booklet full of valuable information on Soils & Typicity and detailed info on the 9 main grape varieties of the 37 grown there. Also an excellent training presentation by knowledgeable sommelier Kelcie Jones on the wines. Organizer Ludovic Girondin Senior Project Manager with Hopscotch Season (formerly Sopexa) in Montreal was interested in some material presented at an earlier event on October 7, 2013 including that tasting booklet I had brought along containing a Did You Know? feature on the Rhone. Also many most useful detailed maps of the regions that they gave out previously but now which you must search for on the internet.
Lots of information provided including facts that in 2023 there were 19% of wines by volume as organic (and 20% by area), 64,467 hectares with 2.4 million hectolitres harvested, and 319 million bottles sold. The popular Cotes du Rhone category has 17 Crus (including 2 naturally sweet ones from Beaumes de Venise & Rasteau) classified as Villages with Geographical designation (Total 22: 1 Ardeche, 4 Gard, 11 Vaucluse & 6 Drome), Villages AOC from 95 communes, and AOC from 172 communes. Nine wines showing lovely diversity at good value were presented:
AOC COSTIERES DE NIMES DOMAINE GASSIER NOSTRE PAÏS 2021 A white using organic agriculture for 80% Grenache Blanc, 15% Clairette, and 5% Viognier.
AOC HERMITAGE M. CHAPOUTIER CHANTE ALOUETTE 2020 Classy white of Marsanne organic (Demeter) delicious now but with wonderful aging capacity.
AOC TAVEL CHATEAU D’AQUERIA ROSE 2022 Beautiful pink colour from 6 grape blends of Grenache, Syrah, Clairette, Mourvedre, Bourboulenc, & Cinsault in 50/20/10/10/5/5 percentage.
AOC COTES DU RHONE VILLAGES VALREAS DOMAINE MAS DE SAINTE CROIX 2021 This Tendresse d’un Climat label is 60% Grenache & 40% Syrah organic grapes fermented in stainless steel.
AOC COTES DU RHONE VILLAGES BROTTE LA FIOLE RÉSERVE 2020 Grenache & Syrah
AOC COTES DU RHONE VILLAGES PLAN DE DIEU ROMAIN DUVERNAY 2022 The common blend again here at 70% Grenache & 30% Syrah.
AOC COSTIERES DE NIMES VIGNERONS PROPRIETES ASSOCIES SAVEURS DU TEMPS This 2021 uses the Grenache/Syrah blend at 75/25.
AOC CAIRANNE CAVE DE CAIRANNE “CAMILLE & CECILIA” 2021 This adds some young peppery herbal notes from 20% Mourvedre to Grenache/Syrah 50/30
AOC CORNAS DOMAINE VINCENT PARIS GRANIT 30 2021 Old fav of mine from 100% Syrah on steep granite slopes (30 degrees of the name) from youngest vines. Check out their Cornas Granit 60 and the very old vines of the amazing Cornas la Geynale. This latest Rhone presentation was clearly the best one yet. Impressed by the brilliant food produced by Delara with that signature Middle Eastern muhammara roasted red pepper and walnuts matching the wines. Appreciated the wine pairing suggestions given.
Asked attending Anais Richard, Export Marketing Manager for Inter Rhone about the difficult “mildew” issues for Grenache from the early rainy weather during 2024. She most kindly provided me with an outstanding updated detailed vintage report. Well done. I have posted this report for your reference.
Consider attending the largest professional wine fair in the Rhone Valley on March 31 to April 3, 2025 for the 13th edition of decouvertes-vins-rhone.com.
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