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Châteauneuf-du-Pape Weathers the Challenges and Changes
France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured
, Oct 2021
Châteauneuf-du-Pape has plenty to offer in 2019, 2018 and 2017, although not in the quantities of the preceding two years. All three vintages produced several wines that are extremely user-friendly, offering abundant, expressive fruit and adequate but not forbidding structure, which is what the market is demanding more and more of these days.
Cellar Favorite: 2006 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Cellar Favorites, France: Rhône & Beaujolais, cellar favorite
, Sep 2021
It isn’t too often that a Cellar Favorite is also a currently available library release. That’s the case with the gorgeous 2006 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a wine that I marginally underrated when I tasted it from barrel in November 2008 and then in bottle a year after that.
Back For More Beaujolais
France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured
, Aug 2021
My first foray into Beaujolais was not writing about it, but shipping it from one side of the world to the other. Mea culpa: I played my part in the not-so-carbon-neutral tradition of freighting jumbo jets full of Beaujolais Nouveau to Japan every third Thursday in November. Fortunately, I was never asked to dive into a swimming pool foaming with Gamay. I just had to get it there on the dot.
Changing Perspectives in Beaujolais
France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured
, Aug 2021
Two-thousand nineteen provides a somewhat welcome return to a mostly classic style of Beaujolais following the often weighty, ripe, and dark-fruited wines of 2018 and 2017. Compared to 2016, 2014 and 2011, most of the 2019s are definitely on the richer side, but I ran across few examples that approached the weight, much less the warmth, of their 2018 and 2017 siblings.
Cellar Favorite: 1992 Domaine Jean-Marc Burgaud Morgon Côte du Py
Cellar Favorites, France: Rhône & Beaujolais, cellar favorite
, Jul 2021
Beaujolais Nouveau fomented an assumption that the region’s wine cannot age. Humbug! It’s more a case that too few wine connoisseurs have the nous to tuck away a few Beaujolais bottles from its finest appellations such as Morgon or Moulin-à-Vent from its finest growers.
Domaine A. Clape Cornas: 2012–1987
France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured, Verticals & Retrospectives
, Dec 2020
One of the world’s iconic estates, Domaine Auguste Clape has long set the standard for the Cornas appellation and has featured on any Rhône aficionado’s short list of the region’s very best properties. With a mere eight hectares of vines spread across Cornas, Saint-Péray and Côtes-du-Rhône, the Clapes produce two different examples of Cornas, a Saint-Péray, a red Côtes-du-Rhône and a red Vin de France. All of the reds are made with whole clusters and fermented in concrete vats before being moved into ancient, traditional oval foudres for aging. Because of small production (roughly 2,500 cases per vintage, total) and longtime worldwide demand, especially for the flagship Cornas, the wines are not always easy to find. Unfortunately, the world has caught on, and prices have risen sharply as well. These are structured, long-lived wines that are definitely built for the patient consumer. As this retrospective shows, patience is consistently rewarded, even in tough vintages.
Cellar Favorite: 2001 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin Grande Cuvée
Cellar Favorites, France: Rhône & Beaujolais, cellar favorite
, Oct 2020
Two thousand and one is, without a doubt, one of this generation’s greatest vintages for France’s southern Rhône valley, producing an abundance of rich but balanced and ageworthy wines that are now either in their prime or entering it.
Exploring Northern Rhône Whites
France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured
, May 2020
The hot growing conditions that defined the 2017, 2018 and 2019 vintages in the Northern Rhône show in the white wines, but the best examples also offer a good bit of energy to counterbalance their richness and ripeness. Simply put, the whites here have never been better, while the top bottlings are easily some of the world’s finest wines.
Northern Rhône: A First Look at the 2019s
France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured
, May 2020
While my late-winter visit to the northern Rhône focused primarily on tasting the 2017s and bottled 2018s, I also had a chance to try a good number of 2019s. Like 2018, 2019 was a hot and dry year, but the wines look extremely promising and show an uncanny blend of depth and vivacity.
Power and Energy: The 2018 and 2017 Northern Rhônes
France: Rhône & Beaujolais, featured
, Apr 2020
Northern Rhône wine lovers whose tastes run to richness and power are going to have a field day with the 2018 and 2017 vintages. While most of the wines tend toward dark fruit character, the best examples also have quite a bit of freshness and energy. That is especially true of the 2018s, which will appeal to readers who prefer a more classic style.