Northern Rhône 2020

This is one of two signature reds at the domaine (the other is the Cornas Les Vieilles Vignes). It is a fruit-driven style with density and finesse. A long, gentle maceration draws out subtle liquorice and dark cherry notes with a lovely volume.

This is a standout wine in the appellation, and one of the best value wines on our Rhône list. Stéphane Rousset’s vines are all clustered in the northern sector of the appellation on granitic soils at high altitude (between 120-300m). This 2020 has such a charming red berry fleshy fruit, sweetly scented, with fine little tannins and a refreshing acidity. All in all, a very complete, balanced and charming wine.

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 Syrah comes from old vines grown on the steep slopes in the north of the long, narrow St Joseph appellation, near the domaine in Condrieu. It is dark and brambly, with a brightness and clarity on the palate of crunchy cassis fruit with a twist of licorice.

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.

The final ever vintage from Bernard Faurie, as he finally settles into his well-deserved retirement. And what a way to bow out, with this spectacular 2020 vintage. It is a blend of Greffieux, Méal, and Bessards, three of Hermitage’s finest sites. Full of gorgeous, luscious, fluid fruit density, with mineral detail, light-footed, silky tannins, and a superbly sustained finish.

This Gamay is a revelation. It’s made by one of Côte-Rôtie’s most accomplished winemakers, Guillaume Clusel, whose Syrahs are highly sought-after. Here he turns his hand to the lighter variety of Gamay, making a wine that is so juicy and sweet and full of freshness. It is far more than a curiosity. The vines are grown on the decomposed granitic soils that lie south of Lyon. Its silky tannins and a fresh acidity are perfectly balanced. Great value and utterly delicious.

This is Clusel Roch’s classic blend. Indeed, in previous years it had been called ‘Classique’. It comes from a range of vineyards across the iron-rich soils of the Côte Brune, including Le Plomb, Montmains, and Bas de Coteau. The blend has a Burgundian composure, with red fruit fragrance and a lithe, cool length. A little spice in the background gives it texture and depth.

This vineyard was planted in 1945, and the old vines are treated with huge respect in the Courbis cellar, where Laurent applies a generous 50% new oak to the wine, that is more than matched by the natural density of fruit. This is a big, powerful, broad-shouldered wine. Its 250m elevation helps it retain freshening acidity, which offers a great foundation to the statuesque density of 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.

Sybarine comes from vines very close to the Garon cellar on the Côte Blonde. Its granite soils make for an open, refined, and silky Côte-Rôtie, and is the earliest drinking of the four Garon cuvées. No new oak is used here, and the 2020 has 10% whole bunch fruit. It is peppery and sappy, it is an upfront and bold style of Syrah with black fruit character and savoury length.

This is one of the finest sites of the Côte Blonde, and it produces a wine of huge elegance and subtlety, although you’ll want to tuck it away for a few years before pulling the cork.

This is a fantastic site on the Côte Brune, shared between just three growers. The vines were replanted in 1980 and 2001, and their youthful vigour produces a juicy wine, with a rounded balance. 30% whole bunch and 30% new oak add silkiness and depth.

This has fast become a Lay & Wheeler favourite. It’s a juicy, pure, light-footed, and expressive Syrah that comes from vines planted just beyond the limits of the Côte-Rôtie appellation. The 2020 has a poised cassis character with a leafy freshness, and a perfume of violets and peonies. Smooth and appetising. Stock up.

Le Gréal is a unique and special blend, and the signature wine of the Sorrel domaine. 90% is drawn from the lauded Le Méal parcel, at 10% from Les Gréffieux, on the Hermitage hillside. There is a small amount of Marsanne co-planted amongst the Syrah that makes it into the blend, adding freshness and mollifying the tannins. These Sorrel vines date back to 1928 and produce exquisite concentration, making it a wine that rewards cellaring.

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.

This is a blend of two parcels and is the hidden gem of Sorrel’s range. 20% comes from Bessards, and 80% from Les Plantiers, just below Le Méal. These vines produce fruit with real power, and this wine has a great presence. But the floral tones and salty fruit make it more accessible than the Gréal, and mean it should start to open up a little earlier.

Although Domaine Ogier is based in Ampuis in the Northern Rhône, Stéphane has made one very savvy investment in the South. From a site near Cairanne he produces this brilliant value Cotes du Rhône. It delivers fantastically juicy, lightly grippy length, with an abundance of sweet red fruit flavours, thanks to the 60% Grenache in the blend, which is filled out with 40% Syrah. It has smooth, attractive tannins thanks to the high proportion of whole bunch used in its fermentation.

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

This Vin de Pays comes from vineyards situated just behind the hillside of Côte-Rôtie, on the same granitic soils as the famous slope. It is a floral and dark-berried with a glossy freshness. It’s a great introduction to Stéphane’s Northern Rhône range. A mini-Côte-Rôtie.

Stéphane Ogier’s reputation is built on his Côte-Rôties. This cuvée is a blend of ten plots, mostly from the northern part of the appellation. It was first created in 2010, with Stéphane wanting to create a blended Côte-Rôtie that has all the signature style and spice of the hillside, but is accessible a little earlier than some of his single vineyard wines that are released later. It comes mostly from his younger vines, between 10 and 30 years old. It is bursting with Syrah black pepper and red currants, with a floral note lifting the palate. Salty tannins carry through onto the finish.

As you move up through the Ogier wines, the amount of whole-bunch fruit used in their vinification climbs. Here, it starts to show in the creamy, dark, cassis-drenched fruit, with layers of black olive tapenade. The wine is dense and dark, with silky tannins and a long poised finish.

Pierre only started bottling this vineyard separately in 2016, and it has since proved it’s a cuvée well-worth following. It comes from a half hectare parcel just north of La Landonne which is home to 80-year-old vines planted by Pierre’s grandfather. He decided to isolate the parcel as he says every year these vines make such a pure and quintessential expression of Côte-Rôtie they deserved their own spotlight. In 2020 it is stridently Syrah, with dark cassis fruit and an aromatic freshness.

This is one of the most sought-after wines in the Rostaing stable, and only produced in tiny volumes, It displays a decadent nose, with a palate of ample structure and volumes. It will need time, but this has a promising future ahead.

This is quite possibly Côte-Rôtie’s most famous vineyard. In Pierre Rostaing’s hands this 2020 is dense and grippy, with a sophisticated restraint. Powerful and captivating.

This cuvée was first bottled separately in 2019, but is actually the first vineyard that Sylvain rented when he struck out on his own in 2007. So it holds a special place in his heart. The vines are 50-60 years old on south-facing terraces. It has a salty grip, and a deep, rich dark fruit weight on the palate.

This is a blend of 15 different parcels around Cornas, which Stéphane vinified separately, only blending at the final moment before bottling. This makes for a complexly layered wine that is defined by its silkiness and luscious length, as well as its great freshness.

This comes from three parcels of 100-year-old vines in Champelrose, Eygats, and Combe. It is intense, and incredibly elegant on the nose, with mineral, saline, iodine notes. The palate shows voluptuous tannins which wrap around the deep red fruit, creating a mouth-coating texture.

This comes from vines near Tournon, facing Hermitage. It has a pungent dark fruit fragrance, peppered with capsicum spice. It’s a top value red from this impressive domaine.

Jaboulet’s Hermitage La Chapelle is a wine of legendary status, with a great legacy of past vintages. For many, it is the defining wine of the Hermitage hill. It comes from a blend of parcels, and takes its name from the small hermit’s chapel that sits at the western end of the hill, with a commanding view of the appellation and the town of Tain-l’Hermitage and the Rhône River below. It’s a pilgrimage spot for any wine lover visiting the region. The 2020 is, of course, a big, powerful, tannic, structured wine, as we have come to expect from this wine. Yet it is also restrained and layered on the palate, and displays a red-fruit detail and elegance that really mark it out as special. This should age for many years (decades) to come.

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.