Vacqueyras: Excellent Values from the Southern Rhône

Fans of southern Rhône wines who are feeling sticker shock from current pricing for most Châteauneuf-du-Papes owe it to themselves to expand their buying net, and Vacqueyras is a great place to start. I would offer that same advice to wine lovers who have a rough time with the richness, power and high alcohol that characterize the majority of Châteauneufs. Vacqueyras is a cooler, higher-altitude sector of the region and its wines rely less heavily on Grenache; with greater emphasis on later-ripening, higher-acid Syrah and Mourvèdre, they present comparatively restrained, structured personalities.

Because Vacqueyras wines are less dependent on Grenache, producers here did not suffer the same severe crop losses in 2014 and 2013 that their colleagues in Châteauneuf-du-Pape did. And so most producers didn’t need to adjust their house styles—at least not too much—to compensate for a paltry Grenache yield, which was the case at a number of Châteauneuf addresses, especially those whose blends lean most heavily on that early-ripening variety.

Old vines are scattered widely throughout the Vacqueyras appellation