2016 Viognier de Rosine, Collines Rhodaniennes, Stéphane Ogier, Rhône

Domaine Stephane Ogier

The Ogier family had been established growers in Ampuis for over seven generations, but it was only in the 1980s that they began vinifying their own grapes. Stéphane joined the family estate in ’97, working alongside his father Michel, before taking over in 2003.

Heralded as the face of the Northern Rhône’s new generation, Stéphane continues acquiring new parcels and trying new techniques. He brings a Burgundian approach to the region’s terroir from his studies in Beaune. He works with multiple lieux-dits, vinifying each separately and using oak sparingly. This allows the characteristics of each to show. He releases many wines as single lieu-dit bottlings later in the year and others he blends, selecting from different barrels to build a style representative of both his vision and the vintage. Stéphane’s latest investment includes vineyards in Rasteau, Cairanne, and Plan de Dieu in the Southern Rhône, bringing his total land-ownings there up to 50 hectares, all destined for his Côtes-du-Rhône offering.

VdP des Comtes Rhodaniens

Vin de Pays des Comtés Rhodaniens is a Vin de Pays French wine appellation that encompasses vineyard area in the Rhône-Alpes region and wines from mainly Viognier, Syrah and Grenache grapes but also from Pinot Noir and Gamay as the appellations spans further to include portions of Beaujolais, Savoie and Jura. 

Within the broad regional Vin de Pays appellation of Comtés Rhodaniens there are further wine classifications for specified areas including :  

• Vin de Pays des Collines Rhodaniennes
• Vin de Pays du Comté de Grignan
• Vin de Pays des Coteaux de l’Ardèche
• Vin de Pays des Coteaux de Baronnies
• Vin de Pays des Coteaux de Montélimar
• Vin de Pays des Gaules

Viognier

A white grape variety originating in the Northern Rhône and which in the last ten years has been increasingly planted in the Southern Rhône and the Languedoc.

It is a poor-yielding grape that is notoriously fickle to grow, being susceptible to a whole gamut of pests and diseases. Crucially it must be picked at optimum ripeness - if harvested too early and under-ripe the resulting wine can be thin, dilute and unbalanced, while if picked too late then the wine will lack the grape's distinctive peach and honeysuckle aroma. It is most successfully grown in the tiny appellations of Château-Grillet and Condrieu where it thrives on the distinctive arzelle granite-rich soils. It is also grown in Côte Rôtie where it lends aromatic richness to the wines when blended with Syrah.

Viognier has been on the charge in the Southern Rhône and the Languedoc throughout the 1990s and is now a key component of many white Côtes du Rhône. In Languedoc and Rousillon it is increasingly being bottled unblended and with notable success with richly fragrant wines redolent of overripe apricots and peaches and selling at a fraction of the price of their Northern Rhône cousins.