About this WINE
Southern Rhône Blend
The vast majority of wines from the Southern Rhône are blends. There are 5 main black varieties, although others are used and the most famous wine of the region, Châteauneuf du Pape, can be made from as many as 13 different varieties. Grenache is the most important grape in the southern Rhône - it contributes alcohol, warmth and gentle juicy fruit and is an ideal base wine in the blend. Plantings of Syrah in the southern Rhône have risen dramatically in the last decade and it is an increasingly important component in blends. It rarely attains the heights that it does in the North but adds colour, backbone, tannins and soft ripe fruit to the blend.
The much-maligned Carignan has been on the retreat recently but is still included in many blends - the best old vines can add colour, body and spicy fruits. Cinsault is also backtracking but, if yields are restricted, can produce moderately well-coloured wines adding pleasant-light fruit to red and rosé blends. Finally, Mourvèdre, a grape from Bandol on the Mediterranean coast, has recently become an increasingly significant component of Southern Rhône blends - it often struggles to ripen fully but can add acidity, ripe spicy berry fruits and hints of tobacco to blends.
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Description
Visan, Vinsobres and Valreas have an alliterative allure and just so happen to be three of the most impressive of the named villages in the Southern Rhône. Grenache, Mourvèdre and, naturally enough, a good dose of Syrah are sourced here and provide the fruit for this profound and peppery Côtes-du-Rhône.
Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer
Jean-Louis Chave makes sublime Hermitage. Indeed his family have been doing so since 1483, which makes Berry Bros. & Rudd, founded in 1698, appear somewhat arriviste by comparison. What is perhaps a little less known is that the domaine is actually located in Mauves, in the heart of St Joseph, and the furtherance of the understanding and appreciation of this under-rated appellation is one of Jean-Louis’ most pressing concerns.
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