Wine Portfolio : Rhone Valley

In France, the appellations of the Côtes du Rhône méridionale are distinctive because of the unique characteristics of the region in general and of specific localities in particular, which the French call "terroir." Here, usually, the soil is clayey or chalky, as there are limestone quarries throughout the hills and low Alps. There is little topsoil, the terrain consists mostly of stones, gravel, pebbles, and strata of rocks. The barren plateaus are called "garrigue," with wild herbs, tough little shrubs, pines, small trees, and rocky outcrops everywhere and flat areas covered with stones and pebbles‹perfect for olive trees and vines, but not for vegetables, flowers, and crops in the more humid, fertile vallley of the Sorgue just slightly further south past Carpentras around l'Isle sur Sorgue, 13 miles east of Avignon, and famous for its antique malls, fruits, and vegetables supplied year around to Paris and France.

But I am in the wine region of the Vaucluse. It is hot and dry in the summer, and cold and dry in the winter, with occasional storms, some of them violent. The sun shines 300 days a year. What is unique and makes the wine, according to the locals, is the mistral. They say, "the vines must suffer to make good wine." The mistral is a bitter wind that sweeps down from the Alps in the winter, turns south down the Rhône valley, picking up speed as it is funneled between the Ardeche mountain range lining the right bank of the Rhone and the low Alps lining the left bank of the Rhone and slams into the hills, plateaus, and valleys of the Vaucluse and Gard departements of the Southern Rhone. The vines suffer and so do you - the wind chill is unbelievable, while the daytime temperature averages 50°F you might as well be in Northern Canada on a windy day. The mistral, however, clears the sky and days are totally sunny and one can sunbathe in January, as I have when living in Beaumes de Venise, sheltered from the mistral by Mont Ventoux, the "Giant of Provence." The mistral can last from three to seven days or so, and everyone becomes edgy and tense and Van Gogh cuts off his ear.

As every wine region of France, the Southern Rhone has certain grape varieties that are best for the terroir. However, due to the terroir, the Southern Rhone has more varities of grapes than other wine regions, where often only one grape variety is allowed. As the wine production in the Southern Rhone is 95% red, 3% rosé, and 2% white, I discuss the red wines.

The primary grape is the Grenache, complemented by the Syrah (Shiraze) and for better classes of wines the Mourvedre. Cinsault and Carignan are two other traditional red wine grapes, but mostly have fallen out of favor when vieilles vignes are replaced by the other three. As you will notice of the grapes (cépages) for each domaine's wines, you usually will see Grenache from 60% to 90%, Syrah from 10% to 25%, and Mourvedre from 5% to 20%. Some wines have perhaps 10% to 15% Cinsault and/or Carignan.

The Grenache is the main grape for red wines in the Southern Rhone because it can withstand severe dryness and even drought. Even with storms, the deep roots receive very little water from the surface because the nature of the terrain causes the water to runoff rather than permeate the "soil." The deep roots receive moisture from the underground acquifers that are flowing down from the Alps into the Rhone.

The Grenache, however, has a serious drawback - it oxidizes very easily; it also has feeble acidity. That is where the Syrah and Mourvedre come in; both of these grapes are resistant to oxidation and have excellent tannins (the Syrah has 60% more tannins than the Grenache), but they are sensitive to dryness as well as to excess humidity.

Thus, each winemaker has to raise each cépage carefully and appropriately for the terroir and combine them effectively and proportionately according to his or her style.

Every winemaker develops his or her own style because each grape variety has its own characteristic aroma and flavors. For example, the Grenache lends pepper and spice if the winemaker wants to feature those characteristics, the Syrah is very aromatic with fruit and flower characteristics, and the Mourvedre provides intense black fruit and earthy characteristics with aging. The result is that Côtes du Rhône wines can vary considerably, even when wine growers with vines adjacent to each other have the same proportions of each grape variety. Côtes du Rhône wines can be fruit forward with wonderful bouquets; they can be spicy and peppery; they can be very herbal, influenced by the wild herbs of Provence that are everywhere, especially on garrigue areas; and they can be earthy, leathery, and described by even more picturesque adjectives that I'll omit here. Because of this diversity, Southern Rhone wines are excellent food wines - one can choose a wine to match every type of cuisine, spice, and sauces as well as personal preference.

When I give wine talks, I stress that one should not expect to like all Southern Rhone wines. One should choose the style or styles one prefers or a style that matches a certain dish. J et R, for example, at present imports 71 different Southern Rhone wines. I think all are excellent wines for their type and style - I'm slightly prejudiced of course - but I personally prefer to drink perhaps only 10 or 15, depending on my mood or the plate.