The 2010 Rhône Vintage
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Looking upstream from a pontoon on the river below
the Château d’Ampuis
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Côte-Rôties From Either Camp
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Domaine Gilles Barge
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Gilles Barge was president of the vignerons’
union in Ampuis and is well respected in the town.
He’s a relaxed and affable man, utterly lacking
in “front”. (He freely admits that he
changed the name of one of his cuvées to Du
Plessy from Duplessis because he thought it looked a
bit posher!)
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The wines here are extremely traditional, but none
the worse for that. We usually offer Du Plessy, but
this year I bought the below wine. To be utterly
frank, either would give enormous pleasure, but Bowes
Wine’s sworn mission to help its clients to
develop portfolios as diverse as possible suggested
that the Côte Brune got a look in!
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The same pontoon…with ducks
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Domaine Marie et Pierre Benetière
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I have offered from this domaine before, but not for
a few years. What re-sparked my interest was a recent
tasting of the vintage we last marketed. It was
utterly sublime, developing beautifully.
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The style here is more like Rostaing i.e. focussed
and pure. However the vineyards are warmer, thus the
wine broader. I like this source!
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The eponymous edifice of the village of
Châteaubourg that the Durands call home
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Domaine Durand
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Drive from Tain l’Hermitage to Cornas and one
can pass the village of Châteaubourg without a
second look. This is a shame for a couple of reasons.
It’s rather pretty. Deffo worth a stroll for 15
minutes or so. Shame, too, as it is home to the
Durand brothers, siblings at the forefront of a
process of modernisation of the wine and reputation
of Cornas.
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I like the energy here, both of the wines and the
brothers, Eric and Joël. Their bottles offer
great purity, intensity and mineral interest.
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price
IB |
Notes |
Order |
| 2010 |
St Joseph Lautarets, E & J Durand, Northern Rhône, France |
2014-2020 |
12x75cl |
£222.00 |
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| 2010 |
Cornas Empreintes, E & J Durand, Northern Rhône, France |
2016-2026 |
12x75cl |
£261.00 |
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| 2010 |
Cornas Confidence, E & J Durand, Northern Rhône, France |
2016-2028 |
12x75cl |
£402.00 |
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Domaine Santa Duc
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Santa Duc, with the new “solarium”
clearly visible
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Yves Gras is clearly happy with his lot. His domain
lies on the plain outside Gigondas and from the roof
of his new “solarium” – a visitor
centre and tasting room – one can view not just
the vineyards of Santa Duc, but pretty much all the
vineyards of Gigondas.
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Yves is friends with Louis Barruol of the
Château de Saint-Cosme and it is these two
domaines that are leading a charge to quality, a
charge that might well see this appellation
eclipsing, in reputation, that of its celebrated
neighbour, Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price |
Notes |
Order |
| 2010 |
Gigondas, Domaine Santa Duc, Southern Rhône, France |
2013-2023 |
12x75cl |
£171.00 |
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| 2010 |
Gigondas Prestige des Hautes Garrigues, Domaine Santa Duc, Southern Rhône, France |
2015-2028 |
12x75cl |
£252.00 |
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| 2010 |
Gigondas Grande Grenache 66, Domaine Santa Duc, Southern Rhône, France |
2016-2030 |
6x75cl |
£171.00 |
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It’s soil Jim, but not as we know it (or
“We’re going to need a bigger
trowel”)
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Château de Beaucastel
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The red wines of Beaucastel are rocketing into a new
era of quality. Gone is the rusticity that was, for
many years, considered part and parcel of the style
here. We now have something altogether finer, more
focussed and, yes, cleaner.
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And of this new era (if one can describe as an era a
period of 4 years or so) 2010 is the finest wine.
Hell, it’s quite probably the finest wine
produced here ever.
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And a word about the whites. The Vieilles Vignes
Roussanne is regarded as pretty much the top white of
the southern Rhône Valley and “up
there” with Chave’s white Hermitage in
the north. We are certainly talking something on a
par with grand cru white burgundy. If exceptionally
rich and complex dry white wine is your thing, they
don’t come much more exotic and exciting.
(N.B. This wine has now sold out)
That leaves the “basic” white
Châteauneuf-du-Pape. All I will say is that I
have just finished my case of the 1999 vintage of
this wine and everyone for whom I have poured it has
ben rendered speechless by its overwhelming
loveliness. If you were to think of it as
top-of-the-tree Meursault from a top-flight producer,
you’d be quite wrong, but closer to the truth
than any other description I can think of for the
time being.
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price
IB |
Notes |
Order |
| 2010 |
Coudoulet de Beaucastel, Côtes-du-Rhône, Château de Beaucastel, Southern Rhône, France |
2012-2022 |
12x75cl |
£135.00 |
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| 2010 |
Coudoulet de Beaucastel, Côtes du Rhône, Château de Beaucastel, Southern Rhône, France |
2014-2025 |
6x150cl |
£141.00 |
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| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Château de Beaucastel, Southern Rhône, France |
2017-2030 |
6x75cl |
£252.00 |
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| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Château de Beaucastel, Southern Rhône, France |
2020-2035 |
6x150cl |
£510.00 |
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| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc, Château de Beaucastel, Southern Rhône, France |
2014-2022 |
6x75cl |
£240.00 |
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| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Vieilles Vignes Roussanne, Château de Beaucastel, Southern Rhône, France |
2015-2025 |
6x75cl |
£390.00 |
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Isobel Ferrando
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Domaine Saint-Préfert
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Isobel Ferrando and her banker husband are relatively
recent arrivals in Châteauneuf-du-Pape
(Isobel’s first vintage was 2003), but boy, has
Isobel made her mark. Being a newcomer in such a
staunchly traditional culture was evidently far from
easy, so Isobel went about modernising the
long-established Domaine Saint-Préfert and
producing the best possible wines.
At the estate are produced two white wines (one, only
two vintages since debut, a cuvée of very old
vine Clairette rose: utterly sublime and a new
varietal for me) and three reds, as well as another
Châteauneuf under the Colombis label. These are
now among the finest wines of the appellation.
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price |
Notes |
Order |
| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc, St Préfert, Southern Rhône, France |
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12x75cl |
£279.00 |
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| 2011 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc, St Préfert, Southern Rhône, France |
2012-2016 |
12x75cl |
£300.00 |
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| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve Auguste Favier, St Préfert, Southern Rhône, France |
2017-2027 |
12x75cl |
£312.00 |
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| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Charles Giraud, St Préfert, Southern Rhône, France |
2018-2030 |
12x75cl |
£402.00 |
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Baptiste and Dominique Grangeon in the vineyard
with their father Alain
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Domaine de Cristia
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The turning of the generations occurred here in 1999
when Baptiste Grangeon and his sister Dominique
took the helm of Cristia from their father, the
previous 70 years since the domaine’s inception
having been spent growing the vineyard area and
planting key varieties. The Grangeon domaine now
amounts to 21 hectares of which 11 are in
Châteauneuf. The estate is newly biodynamic.
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“…Domaine de Cristia has produced
brilliant wines in both 2009 and 2010…2010
looks to be the estate’s finest overall vintage
since 2007. Not surprisingly, the 2010s exhibit even
deeper colors than the relatively dark colored 2009s,
and are tighter and more tannic as well as fresher
and richer.” Robert Parker
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price
IB |
Notes |
Order |
| 2010 |
Côtes du Rhône Vieilles Vignes Les Garrigues, Domaine de Cristia, Southern Rhône, France |
2013-2019 |
12x75cl |
£108.00 |
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| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Domaine de Cristia, Southern Rhône, France |
2014-2023 |
12x75cl |
£201.00 |
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| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Renaissance, Domaine de Cristia, Southern Rhône, France |
2016-2028 |
6x75cl |
£216.00 |
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The vaulted cellar at Clos des Papes
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Clos des Papes
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Vincent Avril, owner and winemaker here, learnt his
craft at college in Beaune and one cannot help
wondering whether at least a part of his heart
resides in Burgundy. His Châteauneuf-du-Pape is
in a class of its own: not necessarily the greatest
wine of the appellation (I am not inclined to stick
my neck out quite that far), but certainly the most
elegant, the purest. This is classy stuff and
supremely agewothy with it.
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The Avril family have an extremely long history in
this part of the world. They almost certainly started
estate bottling their wine in the 19th
century. And there are family records of Avrils in
Châteauneuf going back to the 17th
century.
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N.B. Small quantities here, as ever.
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price |
Notes |
Order |
| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Clos des Papes, Southern Rhône, France |
2017-2035 |
12x75cl |
£600.00 |
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| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Clos des Papes, Southern Rhône, France |
2018-2040 |
6x150cl |
£612.00 |
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| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc, Clos des Papes, Southern Rhône, France |
2013-2025 |
12x75cl |
£372.00 |
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