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
The Massif D’Uchaux lies at the heart of the greater Côtes-du-Rhône Villages area, the clay and limestone terroir and gentle undulation proving the perfect backdrop for the richly spicy Grenache blends which embody all that is great from this part of the world…..so much so in fact that the region has recently been promoted to join the specifically named village appellations.
Under the tutelage of wine-makers at Chateau La Nerthe, namely Alain Dugas et fils, Renjarde has always been a good bet. The excellent 2010 is made from Grenache (55%) Syrah (23%), Cinsault (10%) and Carignan (12%); therefore a little more Syrah than 2009 and a little less Grenache, a function of the coulure in the spring which was especially prevalent in the Grenache vineyards.
Low yields (25 hl/ha) and superlative conditions at harvest have nurtured a wine of great character; we can taste sweet, spicy fruit and a lick of black pepper, all harnessed by firm but pleasingly ripe tannins.
(Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer)
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