"The vines need to suffer,
it needs soils which are very very poor so the roots, the system of roots
goes very very deep in order to feed the grapes".
A Chapel 76, 72, 69, 66, 60. Oh my gosh, look at this
and the 61.
This really demonstrates the aging potential of some of the wines from the Rhône.
"Oh yes, completely. I mean, that's legendary Vintage,
on the legendary wine and that's really one of the most spectacular bottle we have in cellar.
With 78 and 90 as well, but this is great".
Now for someone who's putting wine down in their cellar
and they're going to age it,
how does that change the flavor profile change over time?
"So when the wine is really young, a young hermitage will brings a lot of fruit
young fruit, but very cooked. Little marmalade of fruit.
After 10 years, the wine moves slowly with some more mushrooms flavor.
And then after 20, 25, 30, 40 years, can go more on tobacco flavor and coffee flavor".
Okay, but not all the wines from the Côtes-du-Rhône have to age.
Some of them are ready for drinking right away, right?
"Yes completely. I mean, if you consider the regional Appellation
like Côtes-du-Rhône, Côtes-du-Rhône Village, Crozes-Hermitage,
in some Saint-Joseph or Vacqueyras, I mean, most of them are very good
to drink and very good to enjoy very quickly. But you know, we also have some fabulous
Appellation, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie, which requires some time".
And that's one of the things with the Côtes-du-Rhône
There's something for every occasion and for every budget.
"Exactly, exactly. Completely.
From the North, from the South and everybody will find this pleasure
in this region".
This is the single most important day of the year in Ampuis.
On the slopes of Côte-Rôtie.
A year's hard work for the growers culminates at this moment.
It's a race against time for the Guigal Family.
Marcel, the family patriarch, oversees every detail of production.
His son, Philippe took over
management of the winery in 1997 and works under the watchful eye of his father.
"My luck today
is that I work with my father. And I learn from him
every day. So I've been lucky to spend a long time in the different Universities.
I know the theory but I learn every day, from the practice".
This day, local growers converge on the winery to
watch their grapes harvest being delivered and graded.
They will be paid according to the quality of their Syrah.
"We have the birthplace of the Syrah - or the Shiraz, here in Northern Rhône.
So we grow it in our steep vineyards for more than 200, 400 years.
We will have a typical spicy Syrah in Northern Rhône with fresh tannins,
with an aromatic profile that could be through black fruits, blackberries, etc".
Syrah - or Shiraz, it's often known in the New World,
is often identified with heavy, almost quite jammy, flavors but in the Northern Rhône it's
a completely different ball game. You're more on the sort of subtlety
on the spice and slightly herbaceous notes.
You can have wines with incredible minerality that aged for decades".
Now we journey into the Southern Rhône. An area known as Provence,
where the sun shines about 300 days a year.
Small villages that spread across this region haven't changed much over time,
except for tourists.
They come here for the Mediterranean lifestyle, history and beauty.
This area shares a lot in common with the North
but the most obvious difference is found in the wine.
The Southern Rhône Valley is much broader than the North,
with vineyards spreading out East and West from the river.
The red wines from the East are generally fruitier and lighter in character,
while the wines from the West are more full-bodied and tannic with ripe black fruit.
The South is also home to Tavel,
France's only appellation dedicated exclusively to Rosé table wines.
"Very good sugar"
The most important thing to understand about wines from the Southern Rhône
is that the majority are blended from different grape varieties.
"Good length, good balance, good ripeness".
"If you have only one varietal, only one grape, for example Grenache
and you have a bad year of Grenache,
what can you do? You do nothing! If you have 13,
you can play with all the grapes and so, you can balance a bad year, for one grape".
"Imagine to have a great,
complex Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It's very difficult to make it with only one grape.
It's possible but it's really depend on the soil. And Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre
together makes a complexity, they make a kind of complete, complete wine".
When you're drinking a Southern Côtes-du-Rhône wine, you get a sense of
where the wine comes from, you get transported to that place, which is Provence.
And that's because the vignerons are trying to make wine that reflects the characteristics
unique characteristics of the Southern Rhône.
The Southern Rhône is hard on these workers
but these rugged soils produce delicately flavored wines.
Wines from the South must contain at least 40% Grenache.
Known for its rich fruit flavors, light acidity and soft tannins.
These are often blended with Mourvèdre, Syrah, Cinsault and Carignan
for added complexity. "If you want to make a 'vin de terroir',
a wine which has the feeling and the taste of your soil,
you have to forget the recipes, just to listen the soil, just to listen the wind, tank etc".
"No no, it's never a recipe. So you have to see the harvest
on an everyday basis. Each terroir is different.
Vacqueyras is not Châteauneuf-du-Pape,
Rasteau is not Gigondas. So each terroir must express itself".
Great wines come from suffering vines, it's something you hear all over the region.
And winemakers know that growing conditions not only challenge them
but really contribute to the Rhône's quality.
One of the most unique features of the climate in the Rhône Valley
are these powerful winds called "the Mistral".
They originate in France's central plateau and flow through
the Rhône Valley.
On their way through they accelerate and can reach speeds of 70 to 90 kilometers per hour
The harvesters suffer along with the vines but they know these winds mean healthy grapes,
reducing the need for pesticides and herbicides.
"Sometimes it drives us crazy, especially when it's blowing for about
nine days but this wind is really important for us
because Mistral starts blowing just after the rain".
"Everything dries and then you have the water in the soil and the air is dry.
That's perfect for the vine".
"It prevents from disease and it gives more concentration to the grape".
The character of the grape is influenced by the soil in which it's grown.
Grenache grapes from Gigondas differ from Vacqueyras
or even Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Thomas when I taste Châteauneuf-du-Pape from some of the better vineyards,
I get this this flavor of minerality. Is that a result of the stones?
"Yes. Minerality in Châteauneuf-du-Pape come from the soil, come from these stones.
So these stones were brought by the Rhône river a thousand years ago"
Right!
"And we are lived in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape terroir.
And these stones are really important they give the minerality to the wine,
especially when the wine is aging. It expresses it's minerality."
Okay
"These stones takes the heat of the sun during the day, reflect it during the night,
so you don't have very cool night, it's quite hot and when it's raining,
the rain goes through the stones so you don't have a wet vineyard, so it's dry".
You can smell some of the flavors that you're picking up in the wine.
That mineral element it really comes through.
"Yes. Especially when the wine is aging, you can smell the 'galets',
you can smell the stones".