Northern Rhône 2020

Alain Voge’s pithy sparkling wine, Les Bulles d’Alain, is unlike anything else we have on our list. It is lively, dry, refreshing, and refined. If you’re in the mood for bubbles, but don’t want the weight of a Champagne, this is the perfect option, and a smart price too. It’s a very good example of why Saint-Péray has built its renown for sparkling wines.

Alongside their impressive reds, this domaine makes wonderful still whites from Marsanne in Saint-Péray. 2020 is a year to snap up this cuvée, Ongrie, as sadly none at all has been made in 2021. The parcel sits just behind the village, near the river. The vines are over 50 years old and enjoy the clay soils here. It shows Marsanne’s satisfying bitterness and mouth-watering freshness, supported by subtle new oak, giving it a Burgundian feel. Notes of dried honey and lavender make it a stand out white Rhône.

If André’s straight Condrieu is the benchmark, then this is a wine that transcends its category altogether. The vines here are approaching 70 years old, and the wine has a lifted salty aroma taking it to another level altogether. So much tension and persistence on the palate.

This is so zesty and vibrant, with a beautiful orange zest and floral scent. The palate is silky and mineral - a combination that André Perret, and now his daughter Marie with him, have a dab hand at conjuring from the Viognier grape.

This bursts with green pineapple perfume. Both exotic and vibrant. It has a silky, textured palate. It comes from a single vineyard in the south of the appellation, in St Pierre de Boeuf. The east/north-east aspect makes this site cooler than many, and its granite and gneiss soils results in superb mineral tension to the wine.

This comes from a blend of grapes from Chavany - which give the wine a fruity profile, and grapes from Vérin - which add minerality and tension. It has a detailed nose of nettle freshness, with a great mineral length on the palate. This is a highly accomplished Condrieu blend, and great value for money.

This site is in Saint-Michel-sur-Rhône, just south of Château Grillet in the heart of the Condrieu appellation, where the quartzite mica-schist soils make wines of length and finesse. It is smoky, firm, and energetic, and clearly has plenty to give over the years to come.

When winemakers talk about tending their vineyards like their gardens, we understand what they mean, but take it with a pinch of salt. In this case, these vines literally are Graeme and Julie’s garden, which sits between Coteau de Chéry and Château Grillet, below their house in Vérin. They bought the house a few years ago, and on discovering their garden was in fact prime AOC Condrieu, they not only decided to plant it with vines, but also to start their own domaine. So it’s where their story really begins. 2019 was the first release, and 2020 sees them really hitting their stride. The five-year-old vines have made a superb wine that comes in at just 12.5% abv. It smells of dried honey and lavender, and the palate has delicious freshness, with the richness of baked shortbread in the background. This is a special wine indeed.

This is a poised and energetic Condrieu. The Botts are not looking for richness and ripe alcohols in their whites. To that end they pick fairly early. This is a very balanced and restrained 13% abv, and is packed with vibrant fresh fruit flavours and a touch of almond. There is depth but no heaviness here. Julie says the granitic soils of Condrieu gives the wine minerality and freshness alongside natural ripeness. It should be superb after a year in bottle.

This fresh, bright, early-picked Viognier encapsulates Graeme & Julie’s skill at handling this grape. Where their Condrieus are emerging as some of the most interesting in the appellation, this ‘First Flight’ is a great value window onto their style. The vines are grown in granite soils at 300m altitude. The Botts are confident that 2020 is their best vintage for whites so far (they started in 2016) and this little gem is a bargain you won’t want to miss.

This comes from old vines planted in the historic vineyard of Rocoules. It is powerful and deep, and will certainly benefit from a few years in the cellar.

Sorrel's whites are as interesting and profound as his reds. This wine from Crozes is a little more forward and floral than the Hermitage wines, making it delicious in its youth.

This Condrieu has a pithy, mineral tension, with some lovely bite on the mid-palate.

Rostaing’s Condrieu has something of a following. Unlike many others, this is all vinified and aged in stainless steel, rather than oak. It comes from a granitic south-west facing parcel, and the 2020 has a pretty lemon sherbert aroma, with notes of yuzu and kumquat. The palate has a smooth, soft freshness.

This wine is a blend of fruit from various parcels in the southern part of the appellation, but the majority is drawn from the vineyards lying right next to Sylvain’s new cellars, perched at 350m altitude. It smells of fresh almonds and lemon oil, and the palate has an unctuous weight. Sylvain blocks the malolactic fermentation to keep the freshness. This is a great Saint-Joseph Blanc.

A grippy and savoury wine from one of the masters of white wine in the region. It comes from the vines planted above the winery (an old railway tunnel that burrows through the hillside). It has drive, pithy texture, and a mouthwatering finish. It is an amazingly complex wine for the price, with notes of tropical fruits, peach, and yoghurt.

This is a blend of fruit 80% Marsanne and 20% Roussanne, all from very old vines (the Marsanne is a staggering 100-years-old on average). This Marsanne gives it a depth and texture. It is salty, mineral, and exciting.

From 50+ year old Marsanne vines, the low yields of this warm site give an intense concentration. 50% ageing in 600l oak foudres gives the oak presence, stitched nicely into the sumptuous fruit. Always smoky and grippy, with deceptive length.

This classic Hermitage blend of 70% Marsanne and 30% Roussanne comes from vines grown on a particularly steep part of the hillside. It is spiced and full-bodied. Gentle vinification in concrete eggs coaxes out the fruit.

In the time of Thomas Jefferson, Hermitage had been more celebrated for its whites than its reds. The Jaboulet family had proudly produced a Chapelle blanc from the hill of Hermitage up until 1961. But it wasn’t until the Frey family took over in 2006 that the cuvée returned, and even since then, has only been produced in a handful of vintages in tiny quantities. 2020 is a threshold moment for the cuvée; the start of a new chapter. It comes from two parcels: La Maison Blanche and l’Ermite. The vines in La Maison Blanche are a staggering 110 years old, and are given centre stage in this wine that gleams with energy and potential. The wine is vinified and aged exclusively in concrete, with no oak at all - relatively unusual for an Hermitage Blanc. It bursts with zingy lime and yuzu juice, white flowers, and delicate, refined bitterness, giving structure to the wine’s natural power.