Côte-Rôtie

Young Côte-Rôties are normally fairly easy to read, but that wasn’t the case with the 2022s. Many of them appeared very fruity, with soft structures, lacking energy and aromatic detail. There were some excellent exceptions however, often from those originating from old vines grown on schist and fermented with a proportion of whole bunch.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu 2022 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2022 tasting notes and scores

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Northern Rhône 2022: Full report and top-scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu 2022 wines:

The wines below all scored 95 points or above, and are listed Condrieu then Côte-Rôtie in score order.

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It felt like I was tasting two different vintages while working my way through more than 100 St-Josephs this year. Some of the reds were diminutive but fresh and well-balanced; others were soft, luxurious and liqueur-fruited.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring St-Joseph 2022 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2022 tasting notes and scores

Rhône 2022 full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Northern Rhône 2022: Full report and top-scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring St-Joseph 2022 wines:

The wines below all scored 92 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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Cornas

It was particularly dry in Cornas, with about 100mm of rain between April and harvest, according to Pierre Clape. It’s no surprise therefore that the ripening blockages are felt more keenly here than elsewhere in the north. ‘But the leaves stayed green, in contrast to 2003,’ says Clape.

Tannins can be difficult, rough and fibrous in places, but, both here and elsewhere, sensitive use of oak has helped to paper over the cracks and add some palate weight.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Cornas & St-Péray 2022 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2022 tasting notes and scores

Rhône 2022 full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Northern Rhône 2022: Full report and top-scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Cornas & St-Péray 2022 wines:

The wines below all scored 92 points or above, and are listed in order of St-Péray and Cornas in score order.

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It’s an unusual style of red Hermitage this year: smaller in structure and stature than a usual year. Again, as with other appellations, it’s primarily down to problems with ripening – Guillaume Sorrel said it didn’t rain at all on the hill of Hermitage in June, July or August, and Maxime Chapoutier remembers the mercury hitting 40 ̊C as early as June.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Hermitage 2022 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2022 tasting notes and scores

Rhône 2022 full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Northern Rhône 2022: Full report and top-scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Hermitage 2022 wines:

The wines below scored 92 points and above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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After the disastrous 2021 vintage, 2022 is certainly a step up, though stylistically it couldn’t be more varied.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Crozes-Hermitage 2022 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2022 tasting notes and scores

Rhône 2022 full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Northern Rhône 2022: Full report and top-scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Crozes-Hermitage 2022 wines:

The wines below all scored 90 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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‘Most will drink young and into the medium term, but the more tannic, structured wines will take a long time to soften, then age for decades’

Top-scoring northern Rhône 2022 wines:

The wines below all scored 96 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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Rasteau

Outside Châteauneuf, the best performing appellation was Rasteau. There were no problems with green tannins here, which Jérôme Bressy of Domaine Gourt de Mautens believes is thanks to the abundance of clay. The 2022 vintage has delivered wines with bright fruit, good concentration and balanced alcohol. They are often robustly tannic however, so pay close attention to drinking windows.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and score for top Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres 2022 wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres 2022 wines:

See below the top-scoring Rasteau, Cairanne and Vinsobres wines, listed by appellation and white then red in score order.

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Lirac

On top of drought and intense heat in 2022, the west bank of the Rhône also had to deal with hail, which caused localised damage.

The reds in Lirac are very concentrated this year, sometimes overripe or sternly tannic. The whites and rosés based on Clairette tend to be the most vibrant.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and score for top Lirac & Tavel 2022 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2022 tasting notes and scores

Rhône 2022 full vintage report and top-scoring wines

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Matt Walls’ top-scoring Lirac & Tavel 2022 wines:

See below all of the Tavel and Lirac wines from the 2022 en primeur report.

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Gigondas

The picture is more mixed in Gigondas than in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, with more instances of unripe tannin due to higher crop loads or picking too early.

The successful wines have impact, freshness and low alcohol, even if they aren’t always terribly deep or long in flavour. The best however are excellent, and I share the opinion of Louis Barruol of Château de Saint Cosme that these will age with interest.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and score for top Gigondas, Vacqueyras & Beaumes de Venise 2022 wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Gigondas, Vacqueyras & Beaumes de Venise 2022 wines:

The wines below all scored 92 points or above, and are listed in order of Gigondas, Vacqueyras and Beaumes de Venise, white then red in score order.

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Antoine Daumen of Domaine de la Vieille Julienne was unsure about the season as it progressed. ‘We were cautious to begin with, we had low expectations,’ he says, ‘but the old vines were still very healthy at the end despite the dryness.’ He was pleased with the domaine’s wines in 2022 – they have silky tannins, moderate alcohol and good acidity.

Châteauneuf rode out the challenges of 2022 better than any other appellation this year, and unpleasantly green tannins are relatively rare.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2022 wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2022 wines:

The wines below all scored 95 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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‘Hot, dry vintages tend to favour red wines and 2022 is no exception. In general the style is fairly concentrated and fruity, if not profound’

Top-scoring southern Rhône 2022 wines:

A selection of 30 southern Rhône wines which scored 95 points or above, listed white then red in score order.

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Rhône 2022 en primeur vintage rating:

‘Never before has a vintage so confounded my expectations’

While preparing for my three-week visit to taste the 2022 vintage in the Rhône, I read that the region experienced the hottest and driest growing season since 1950. Even hotter and drier than 2003 – a vintage burned into the memory of local winemakers. So I approached the tastings with a degree of trepidation. Extreme conditions rarely make for balanced wines.

Scroll down for Matt Walls’ top-scoring Rhône 2022 wines

Top-scoring Rhône 2022 wines

See below the 30 highest scoring wines, listed white then red in score order.

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The post Rhône 2022 en primeur: Full vintage report and top-scoring wines appeared first on Decanter.

A week in the life of a Rhône correspondent during en primeur…

Monday 2 October

Gigondas village. Credit: Matt Walls

I start the week with a particularly challenging tasting: 120 samples of 2022 Gigondas, tasted blind. It’s challenging not just because of the number of wines (though high), but their tannic intensity this year. Picking them apart requires sustained concentration. Some are very good this year, others really not: a refrain of the vintage.

Dinner at Les Florets near Gigondas with some friends from the London wine trade who happen to be in town. The restaurant has a great wine list: I order a Domaine des Tours Grande Réserve Côtes-du-Rhône 2014. On paper it might not look exciting: a generic appellation in a weak vintage. But this is Emmanuel Reynaud’s Vacqueyras, declassified in 2014 just because of its pale colour. It’s fabulous – one of my wines of the year so far.

Tuesday 3 October

Frédéri Férigoule at Le Sang des Cailloux. Credit: Matt Walls

An early start today at the Vacqueyras growers’ association to taste a similar number of samples from this appellation. It tastes like a different vintage here compared to Gigondas: juicier and more accessible. Considering the heatwave and drought conditions I didn’t expect such balanced wines.

In the afternoon, I meet with Frédéri Férigoule of Le Sang des Cailloux. His reds are lovely, but he had to discard his white cuvée Un Sang Blanc in 2022 because of the difficulties he faced during vinification. It’s a big loss, as his 2020 and 2021 are among the best white wines of the southern Rhône. If you’re a fan too, snap up these back vintages while you wait for the 2023.

Wednesday 4 October

Serge and Brigitte Mouriesse of Mouriesse Vinum. Credit: Matt Walls

I begin three days of tasting Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the mistral whistling through the courtyard outside. A new discovery for me is Mouriesse Vinum, a tiny estate established by Serge and Brigitte Mouriesse. Serge was a consultant winemaker for many years and gradually amassed some small parcels of Grenache on sand. It’s a deliciously old-fashioned Châteauneuf. Dinner at La Mère Germaine in the village is seriously good – a must-visit if you’re in the region.

Thursday 5 October

The 1957 from Château de Beaucastel. Credit: Matt Walls

Tasting more Châteauneuf today, followed by a visit to Vieux Télégraphe, which had planned to pick its whites on 16 August in 2022. Two days before, however, a band of hail tore through its vineyards on the La Crau plateau. ‘There were no more leaves, no more grapes, nothing – a catastrophe,’ winemaker Nicolas Brunier said, when he visited the vines afterwards. It’s the first time in Vieux Télégraphe’s long history that it’s made no red or white Vieux Télégraphe. Fortunately, the other wines in its Rhône portfolio are on good form.

Later on, I take a look around Château de Beaucastel’s impressive new cellar, which is taking shape now and should be finished by summer 2024. César Perrin opened a 1957 Beaucastel; not a great vintage, but the wine is still in impressive shape. It will easily last 80 years – a reminder of Châteauneuf’s preternatural longevity.

Friday 6 October

Decanter’s Rhône correspondent, Matt Walls, at Château Rayas. Credit: Matt Walls

I finish the Châteauneuf samples in the morning, then visit Vincent Avril at Clos des Papes. After tasting his 2022s, he offered to open some older vintages. Perhaps perversely, I asked if we could taste his 2008 – the worst vintage of the past 20 years. It was beautifully drinkable and complex, confirming my belief in the peerless consistency of these wines.

Afterwards, Château Rayas. Tasting with Emmanuel Reynaud is always enlightening. Whites are rich and opulent this year, reds fresh and precise. He recommends opening bottes of red Rayas well in advance of drinking; certainly one or two days before, even three or four (just pulling the cork then leaving the wine to stand in a cool place, around 15 ̊C, and not decanting). He’s had good results with 10 days prior opening. I’m not sure I’m that brave!

Monday 9 October

Blind tasting at the Institut Rhodanien. Credit: Matt Walls

After a weekend spent in Avignon, I travel to the Institut Rhodanien to taste in the lecture theatre, an unglamorous but efficient setting to work through samples of the remaining six Rhône crus: Beaumes de Venise, Cairanne, Lirac, Rasteau, Tavel and Vinsobres.

My en primeur visit to the Rhône has clashed with harvest dates at Domaine Gourt de Mautens these past few years, but Jérôme Bressy kindly finds an hour to meet this evening. His wines remain under the radar, but there’s no doubt they’re among the best in the Rhône. A man with strong opinions and wines of immense character.

Tuesday 10 October

Châteauneuf-du-Pape tasted blind. Credit: Matt Walls

I wake up to fog, which cleared as I reached the Institut. It felt like a rather obvious metaphor – the questions I had over the 2022 vintage in the southern Rhône are now largely clarified. There are some extremely tannic wines in 2022, but also some elegant, juicy ones with moderate alcohol. Grenache has performed well, as has Mourvèdre.

Wednesday 11 October

Tasting at Domaine de la Chapelle. Credit: Matt Walls

A drive up to the northern Rhône today to mop up a few key producers that I missed the first time around. I visit Paul Jaboulet Aîné, who has created a new distinct estate, Domaine de la Chapelle. From the 2022 vintage, this will be the home of Hermitage La Chapelle red and white. Full article to follow on Decanter Premium.

Thursday 12 October

Vineyards of E Guigal. Credit: Matt Walls

The day starts with an early tasting at Domaine Jean-Louis Chave. It’s never too early to taste with Jean-Louis. The difference between the clay-based Hermitage terroirs and those grown on granite couldn’t be more marked this year. A strong case for blending.

I finish the day with a great honour: the first journalist to taste the inaugural vintage of E Guigal’s Côte-Rôtie La Reynarde – the new, fourth ‘La La’. It’s very good and will feature in my full 2022 vintage report, which will be published in a few weeks’ time.

I write this last entry at the end of a long day, sitting in the Paris Eurostar terminal, computer on my lap, eating a packet of Lay’s bacon flavour 3D Bugles (god-tier crisps) and half a battered baguette. Tomorrow I’ll start writing in earnest. That’s when the real work begins!

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A week in the life of a Rhône correspondent during en primeur…

Sunday 17 September

Tain l’Hermitage train station. Credit: Matt Walls.

If I leave my house in the UK after breakfast, I can reach Tain l’Hermitage by train in time for dinner. It’s a journey I make several times a year, but my autumn visit when I taste the new vintage (in this case the 2022) is the most instructive – and the most gruelling. Tasting around 80 wines a day takes a lot of concentration and you finish the day exhausted. Is that the sound of tiny violins I hear as I pull into the station? I press on undeterred.

For a region so obsessed with rugby, it’s surprisingly difficult to find somewhere to watch this evening’s England game. I’m directed to a new bar on the edge of town that opened a few months ago, called Numéro 9. It does a good burger and the terrace has a panoramic view of the hill of Hermitage – a sight I never tire of.

After the match, my mind turns to the week ahead, five days of intensive tasting and visits. I’ve heard it was a hot and dry vintage, but reading some weather reports clarifies the situation – 2022 was the hottest and driest since 1950. Uh-oh. Will I find a repeat of the jammy 2003s, a year that suffered similar conditions? I sincerely hope not.

Monday 18 September

Tasting 2022s at Chapoutier. Credit: Matt Walls.

I’m woken up at 5am by a clap of thunder. It’s still raining when I get up. Normally I walk up to the Chapelle on Hermitage hill before a day’s tasting in Tain, but the lazy devil on my shoulder is rather smug – I have a satisfactory excuse to skip the morning’s exercise. I drive to the Maison des Vins, windscreen wipers on maximum, which will be my base for the next few days.

After lunch I visit Chapoutier to taste through its 2022s, including some very impressive Hermitage. Maxime Chapoutier says they saw 180mm of rain in certain parcels during the last 12 hours – that’s a quarter of a year’s rainfall. The term ‘climate chaos’ is no exaggeration.

I finish the day at Le Tournesol restaurant in Tournon. It’s run by a welcoming husband-and-wife team serving small plates of seasonal French cooking, and has an exceptional wine list with lots of hard-to-find gems. Worth a visit if you’re in the area.

Tuesday 19 September

Rain damage in Hermitage. Credit: Matt Walls.

I get up early to blue skies. The foot of the hill of Hermitage is cluttered with heaps of sandy soil washed down the slopes, broken échalas (the poles on which the vines are trained), bits of old vine…despite a small tree blocking the path I make my way to the summit. The Rhône River flows a muddy brown below.

Today I’m tasting Cornas and Hermitage. Expecting sweetly ripe fruit and high alcohol, what I find is the opposite – light, just-ripe wines, sometimes with green tannins. It’s confounding.

An afternoon visiting Pierre and Olivier Clape of Domaine Clape, then Franck Balthazar of his eponymous domaine, sheds some light on the vintage – it was so dry in 2022 that some vines shut down and stopped ripening. Things begin to make sense.

Wednesday 20 September

Blind tasting at the Maisons des Vins. Credit: Matt Walls.

I work through the whites today. Some appellations, such as St-Joseph, are more successful than others. It’s certainly not as fresh and tense in style as the cool 2021 – quite the opposite, rich and potent.

A visit to Domaine Gonon is always a highlight of my northern Rhône tastings. Jean Gonon is buoyant but weary after a tough season – he’s just finished harvesting the 2023s. ‘The most stressful moment is deciding when to pick,’ he says, and stresses the importance of having a good team at harvest.

We taste the 2019, 2020 and 2021 wines from bottle; a sample of 2022 from tank; then take a peek at his 2023s, still fermenting, frothy and sweet.

Thursday 21 September

A daunting line-up of red Crozes-Hermitage today – 76 in total. The hot, dry weather is reflected in the wines here: very ripe, powerful, with suede-like tannins. They are certainly more successful than the disastrous 2021s, but not all have good balance.

Afterwards I meet with Grégory Joannès, the new managing director of Paul Jaboulet Aîné. The company has been restructured, and a new property established. The jewel in the Jaboulet crown, Hermitage La Chapelle, has been scythed off, and will now be made in a new winery called Domaine de la Chapelle. Paul Jaboulet Aîné will continue to make its other domaine wines and negociant blends, with a tighter focus on the northern Rhône. I’ll get the full low-down in November.

Friday 22 September

Pierre Rostaing of Domaine Rostaing. Credit: Matt Walls.

A day of visits around Côte-Rôtie and Condrieu today, starting at 9am at Domaine JP Jamet. Wow, its Côte-Rôties are tannic! Certainly more structured than a typical year, but still detailed, fresh and expressive.

Pierre Rostaing’s are softer and more velvety in style. The weather in 2022 made for a relatively relaxed end to the season – there was no grass to cut and no disease pressure due to the drought. But ‘it was hard to watch the vines suffer,’ he says. Usually around 1% of his vines die naturally each year. It was 3%-4% in 2022. There will be a lot of replanting to do this winter.

A comprehensive tasting of Stéphane Ogier’s single-vineyard wines, some brilliant, finishes a long and enlightening week.

I expected wines akin to 2003 or 2019; what I found was a fascinating if curious mix of 2014, 2016 and 2018. Is it a good year? Yes; but not uniformly. It will be interesting to see how the southern Rhône compares. I’ll let you know.

Look out for Matt Walls’ southern Rhône diary next week.

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Severe frost in early April wreaked havoc across both the northern and southern appellations of the Rhône Valley in 2021, with many producers losing a large majority of their crop.

The reds that did materialise tend towards lean, green flavours, because grapes struggled to ripen. A few producers struck lucky, with late-budding varieties or pockets of vineyard less affected by frost.

But overall, it is the whites that really shine, showing freshness, precision and longevity.

St-Joseph, Vacqueyras and Beaumes de Venise offer particularly good value this year.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Matt Walls’ best value Rhône 2021 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2021 tasting notes and scores

See the Rhône 2021 full vintage report and top scoring wines

The best value Rhône 2021 wines to seek out:

Wines listed northern then southern Rhône, by colour and score.

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The post Rhône 2021: best value wines appeared first on Decanter.

‘The style of 2021 is light, lean and fresh, with high acidity, low alcohol and strict tannins…but for many producers making red wines, 2021 will be a year best forgotten. For white wines, the opposite is true.’

If the southern Rhône had a tough year in 2021, the northern Rhône had it even worse. When talking to growers, one word that came up time and time again was ‘exhausting’. On paper, this was a disastrous vintage, but it was worth fighting for – some producers pulled excellent wines out of their hats. Not many, but some.

Top-scoring northern Rhône 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 95 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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Clément Bärtschi, winemaker and cellarmaster at M Chapoutier, saw little frost in St-Joseph in 2021. Nevertheless, the cool, wet season resulted in oscillating quality.

Some wines are excellent, in a fresh, crisp and fragrant style; but the larger proportion lack fruit and joy, with dry, astringent tannins. ‘We’d have called it a lovely vintage – in the 1980s,’ said Jean Gonon of Domaine Gonon.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring St-Joseph 2021 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2021 tasting notes and scores

See the Rhône 2021 full vintage report and top scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring St-Joseph 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 93 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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This was the first year that Pierre Clape, of Domaine Clape, had witnessed frost on the slopes of Cornas; from these parcels he lost 40% of his crop.

On the flat, however, it was much worse – here he lost 90%. Like almost everybody else, he had to raise alcohol levels – here by adding concentrated must – to achieve 12% alcohol. The last time they had to do this was in 2008.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Cornas & St-Péray 2021 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2021 tasting notes and scores

See the Rhône 2021 full vintage report and top scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Cornas & St-Péray 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 93 points or above, and are listed in order of St-Péray and Cornas in score order.

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Is frost a bad thing? Yes; but it can have unexpected benefits. It can kill shoots, reducing yields, but it doesn’t necessarily affect quality.

In cooler growing seasons, vines with fewer bunches can find it easier to ripen them. So given the inclement conditions that followed the frost in 2021, optimists might consider it advantageous that the crop load had been lightened.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu 2021 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2021 tasting notes and scores

See the Rhône 2021 full vintage report and top scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 95 points or above, and are listed Condrieu then Côte-Rôtie in score order.

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When the northern Rhône faces a difficult vintage, it’s often Crozes-Hermitage that bears the brunt, which was the case in 2021.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Crozes-Hermitage 2021 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2021 tasting notes and scores

See the Rhône 2021 full vintage report and top scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Crozes-Hermitage 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 89 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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Rhône 2021 en primeur: full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Southern Rhône 2021: full report and top-scoring wines

Crozes-Hermitage 2020: report and top-scoring wines

The post Crozes-Hermitage 2021: report and top-scoring wines appeared first on Decanter.