Northern Rhone Reds - TonghamTaster’s French Wine Tasting Course – week 21

The 12 month on-line course to help you learn about French wines - Top tips on how to get value when buying them - Reasonably priced up-to-date recommendations of what to buy and try in the UK - Bringing you the best of Tongham Village Hall wine tastings.

INTRODUCTION
This week we cover Northern Rhone reds which are much less well known than their Southern Rhone cousins. This is because they are not so common – the Northern Rhone only produces about one twentieth of the wine that the Southern Rhone produces.

LOCALITYThe Northern Rhone stretches along the Rhone valley south from Vienne to Valence. Most vineyards are on the steep slopes above the river although there are some flatter areas around St Joseph and Crozes-Hermitages, but these wines are often of inferior quality. The area has very hot sunny summers and this combined with the slopes gives the name of one of the wines – Cotes Rotie, or literally roasted hillsides.

VARIETALS
The red wines of the Northern Rhone are predominantly made with the Syrah grape, which is known as Shiraz throughout most of the rest of the World. In some appellations the winemakers are allowed to add some white grapes to lighten and add fragrance to the wines – depending on the AOC this might be Viognier, Marsanne or Roussanne.

THE WINES
Crozes-Hermitage is by far the largest of the North Rhone AOCs and the one you are most likely to be able to afford along with St Joseph. The AOC is centred around Tain-l’hermitage. Much of the wine can be drunk young as it is more approachable than some of the high-quality syrahs due to its soft fruitiness. Well worth a try.

St Joseph is centred around Tournon but stretches for much of the area between Vienne and Valence. The quality is frankly rather variable and are most are quite light and best drunk young.
Hermitage is going up the scale of quality and is probably the best known of the Northern Rhone AOCs despite its small size. It is grown near the town of Tain l’hermitage on south facing granite slopes. This is a star wine and demands some cellaring before drinking – one for the connoisseurs.
Cornas is on the opposite side of the river to Hermitage. The wines can be quite tannic and thus need time to age. Although, they can be on the rustic side they do at least have body.
Cote Rotie wines are rather expensive and I would have to admit to trying them only once. However, this is the best Northern Rhone red of all.

THE TASTE
These red syrah wines vary from the easy drinking fruity reds of St Joseph and Crozes Hermitages to the heavy weight wines of Hermitage and the Cote Rotie. These latter wines are some of the best Syrah/Shiraz wines in the World and show of the grape’s prime characteristics of full bodied berry laden spicy smokiness.

TOP TIPS
• Look out for Crozes-Hermitages as they can be great value for money.
• Try one of the top wines, at least once, but give it time to mature.

HOMEWORK
For your homework this week buy and try one of this week’s Northern Rhone red wines, which may include one of the following:
Waitrose - Cave de Tain 2007 Les Hauts de Pavières Crozes-Hermitage – about £10.
Majestic – Cave de Tain 2007 Crozes-Hermitages – about £10.
Waitrose - Cave de Saint-Désirat Cuvée Prestige 2007 Saint-Joseph – about £13.

FOOD PAIRINGS
These wines will normally match well with a pheasant casserole in red wine sauce or rare roast meats. The lighter reds are great on their own or I actually like them slightly chilled with a summer BBQ.

COMING SOON
Next week we cover the other Rhone wines including some incredible perfumed white wines and an unusual sparkling wine. If you missed the early weeks of this course, it is not too late to catch up. Just click on the French Wine Course link at the top of this page.