2006 Rhône Offer – A Bracing
Concentration
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introduction to offer
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The North
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The town of Ampuis and the River Rhône
sandwiched between the high slopes either
side
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The River Rhône's uses have not been
underexploited. Stand beside it and one sees not a
vein, but an arterial waterway slipping the aqueous
blood of Europe down to a waiting sea. The river was
once a terrifying torrent, by all accounts, but now
eases itself in a meandering wander between its
banks, the brakes having been put on its flow by
numerous power generating schemes. It has an oily
look. One imagines that if one fell into it, one
would disappear with the tiniest of ripples and not
resurface.
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The long story of its power is told in the steepness
of its banks, through which it has carved, over the
millennia - and no doubt with a little help from a
benevolent glacier or two - a narrow nick in the
granite. And on the sides of this nick, vines
grow.
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Vine growing first entered France near Marseilles
around 600B.C. Pliny talks of the wines of Vienne - a
town near Ampuis in the northern Rhône -
attributing them a resinous flavour and describing
them as among the finest of Gaul. The steep banks of
the Rhône were first terraced by the Romans and
it is the ancestors of these terraces that make the
vineyards workable today.
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The crazily terraced slopes of
Côte-Rôtie
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Four grape varieties are employed here, one for the
reds - Syrah - and three for white wines: Marsanne,
Roussanne and Viognier.
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If there is any truth in the saying that dog owners
resemble their pets, then there is truth also if one
postulates that wines resemble the landscape in which
they're grown. For the red wines of the northern
Rhône are upright and initially stern. Syrah,
especially in its youth, can resemble Cabernet
Sauvignon. It's a deeply coloured wine, with firm
tannins. One taste and one can hear a little spicy
voice calling "cellar me, cellar me".
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With age, these wines become magnificent: regal and
velvet of texture. They can offer up aromas and
flavours of smoke and tar, black and white pepper,
even black rubber, to add complexity to the black,
black fruit.
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The Vintage
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2006 has produced a style of wines of great class and
style in both the northern and southern parts of the
valley. Whilst '05 threw up solid, wines, wines that
will require some years in one's cellar, 2006 offers
an unusual purity, freshness and focus; no bad thing,
especially in the south where Grenache can sometimes
gallop out-of-control towards over-ripeness. Allied
to their freshness is great concentration: a
combination that is something of a Holy Grail for
wine makers and growers alike.
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The Growers
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Patrick et Christophe Bonnefond
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Tasting with Christophe Bonnefond
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Côte-Rôtie is the one appellation of the
northern Rhône that produces wines one could
describe as being beautiful. At their best, they
display a purity of fruit, a complexity of aroma and
great voluptuousness in the mouth. They can rank
alongside the greatest reds wines in the
world.
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We had a superb tasting with Christophe Bonnefond. It
was our first tasting of the week and, having scouted
out the route to the domaine the evening before, we
arrived in indecently timely fashion. Perhaps
Christophe expects visitors to be late; perhaps he
simply dislikes Monday mornings. In any event, it
look us 10 or so minutes to warm him up with incisive
questioning about his wines and how he makes them,
after which he started constructing sentences from
more than a single word.
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I had not been here before. I will return. The wines
have a precision and beauty not quickly
forgotten.
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"These two brothers have come of age over the last
decade…" Robert Parker
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price
IB |
Notes |
Order |
| 2006 |
Côte-Rôtie, P & C Bonnefond, Northern Rhône, France |
2011-2020 |
12x75cl |
£243.00 |
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| 2006 |
Côte-Rôtie Les Rochains, P & C Bonnefond, Northern Rhône, France |
2013-2022 |
12x75cl |
£342.00 |
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Saint Cosme
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This exemplary producer in Gigondas buys in fruit to
extend its range. Their southern Rhône wines
are listed elsewhere under the name Château
Saint Cosme.
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The dizzy slopes of Cornas
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Domaine Alain Voge
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Voge is something of a legend in Cornas and we were
looking forward to tasting at the domaine. We started
to become concerned when a ring on the bell produced
a single cellar worker. He deigned to make a 'phone
call to see if he could raise anyone to show us the
wines. Eventually Mrs V arrived. Her husband was away
having dialysis; could we come back later? Frankly,
no. Our schedule was too tight. It was then or never.
We promised to rein ourselves in and not ask any
technical questions about the wines (this seemed to
be Madame's biggest worry) and Madame started opening
samples.
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Our hastily assembled tasting at Voge
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We kicked off with the whites and what whites they
are! Only St Péray is made in this colour:
three cuvées of rising quality, ending with a
wine called Fleur de Crussol, which is fabulous. If I
had had a rush of blood to the head I might even have
tried to secure some for the offer. I'd need a rush
of blood to the head, as I cannot imagine selling any
without employing either threats of violence or
blackmail. Shame.
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The reds are stone-cold classics. Prime vineyard
sites and old vines give the perfect ingredients for
the production of some of the finest wines of the
appellation.
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"Consistently one of the top estates in
Cornas…" Robert Parker
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Domaine Eric and Joel Durand
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A back street in Châteaubourg, home to the
Durand’s domaine
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Leave Cornas and head back towards Tain l'Hermitage
and one can pass through a hamlet called
Châteaubourg without even realising it. We did
and had to turn back.
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We were met here by Eric Durand, a young, grey-haired
man with an easy manner and plenty to say. Now, I was
brought (dragged? hauled??) up to believe that I
should pay attention when someone's talking to me.
However, Eric makes this very difficult. He talked
non-stop in rapid French for well over an hour and
one has, eventually, to stop trying to follow this
diatribe and concentrate on the wine in one's glass
so that one can write tasting notes.
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Tasting with the garrulous Eric Durand
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There is a series of extraordinary wines made here,
not least a mind-blowing St Joseph called Lauterets.
We offered it before on our 2003 vintage offering and
I am looking forward to trying mine in the near
future. The string of Cornas wines are benchmarks,
but sadly, one cannot include too many Cornas on a
single offer.
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Domaine des Remizières
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The always pleasurable experience of tasting at
the Domaine des Remizières, this time with
Emilie
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Take note! This is a source of very high quality
wines, some of which offer tremendous value. Those
that do not offer tremendous value are among the
finest of the appellations that they represent. Take
your pick!
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We have offered the wines of the Desmeures family a
couple of times in the past. Indeed, we offered the
2005s. For those that bought the 2005
Crozes-Hermitage Rouge Cuvée Christophe, I can
tell you that Robert Parker's latest edition of The
Wine Advocate lists it with 91+ points next to its
name: not bad for a wine for which we charged
£129 in bond the dozen.
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Emilie, Philippe Desmeures's daughter (for whom a red
and white cuvée of Hermitage are named) took
us through the range, as Philippe was out and about.
The wines are very pure, very expressive and
clear-voiced.
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price
IB |
Notes |
Order |
| 2006 |
Crozes-Hermitage Rouge Cuvée Christophe, Domaine des Remizières, Northern Rhône, France |
2011-2020 |
12x75cl |
£144.00 |
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| 2006 |
Crozes-Hermitage Blanc Cuvée Christophe, Domaine des Remizières, Northern Rhône, France |
2011-2018 |
12x75cl |
£144.00 |
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| 2006 |
Hermitage Rouge Cuvée Emilie, Domaine des Remizières, Northern Rhône, France |
2016-2030 |
12x75cl |
£360.00 |
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| 2006 |
Hermitage Blanc Cuvée Emilie, Domaine des Remizières, Northern Rhône, France |
2011-2020 |
12x75cl |
£345.00 |
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| 2006 |
Hermitage Rouge Autrement, Domaine des Remizières, Northern Rhône, France |
2015-2030 |
6x75cl |
£375.00 |
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» 2006
Southern Rhône Offer
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