2007 and 2006 Rhone Valley Wines
The refrain that I heard most often up and down the valley was that the winds of September ensured impeccably clean grapes and a healthy harvest. An extended growing season, with little in the way of heat spikes and capped off by moderating breezes and cool nights in September, allowed for the steady build-up of both grape sugars and skin maturity, yielding wines with balance and complexity. For the most part the 2007s feature abundant but not excessive alcohol levels. The charm of the vintage lies in great part with the seductive upfront appeal of the wines, but the best of them are built to last and improve in cool cellars.
Winos who prize immediate gratification will go nuts for the 2007s from the southern Rhône Valley, while those collectors who gravitate toward more classically styled wines that are slower to reveal themselves will be a bit more discriminating about the wines they buy. As for the question of whether 2007 is the greatest vintage ever in the south, Im averse to such sweeping generalizations as a rule and think that such a proclamation discounts the consistent greatness of, for example, 2005 and 2001, two vintages that produced a wealth of outstanding wines. Its a sounder policy, I think, to balance a cellar with a range of vintages, and I hope that IWC readers can resist the temptation to stack their cellars with 2007s at the expense of the elegant 2006s and 2004s and the powerful 2005s that are still available, in most cases at lower prices than the 2007s will command.
Meanwhile, the high-quality, classically structured 2006s appear poised to fade into immediate oblivion in the American market. Sandwiched as they are between the 07s and 05s, they are likely to be overlooked by cash-strapped American buyers. For smart consumers, there will probably be plenty of buying opportunities as the 2006s are dumped by importers, wholesalers and retailers in an effort to generate cash to pay for the soon-to-arrive, and hopefully easier-to-sell, 2007s. A similar fate befell most 2004s, which are proving, as a group, to be lovely wines, with plenty of short- to mid-term appeal but also the balance to reward extended cellaring.
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The 2007 vintage in the southern Rhône has been the subject of intense scrutiny and sometimes overheated rhetoric virtually since the grapes landed in the presses.
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Producers in this Article
- Alain Jaume & Fils
- Bosquet des Papes
- Château Beauchêne
- Chateau Cabrieres
- Château de Beaucastel
- Château de la Font du Loup
- Château de la Gardine
- Château de Vaudieu
- Château du Trignon
- Château Fortia
- Château-Grillet
- Château La Nerthe
- Château Maucoil
- Château Mont-Redon
- Château Mont-Thabor
- Château Rayas
- Clos des Brusquières
- Clos des Papes
- Clos du Calvaire
- Clos du Joncuas
- Clos du Mont-Olivet
- Clos Saint-Jean
- Clos Saint-Michel
- Cuvée du Vatican
- Delas Frères
- Domaine A. Clape
- Domaine Alain Graillot
- Domaine Alain Voge
- Domaine Bernard Burgaud
- Domaine Bernard Faurie
- Domaine Berthet-Rayne
- Domaine Boissonnet
- Domaine Brusset
- Domaine Chante Cigale
- Domaine Chante-Perdrix
- Domaine Charvin
- Domaine Clusel-Roch
- Domaine Courbis
- Domaine Coursodon
- Domaine Cros de la Mûre
- Domaine de Beaurenard
- Domaine de Boissan
- Domaine de Cabasse
- Domaine de Cassan
- Domaine de Cristia
- Domaine de Ferrand
- Domaine de Fontavin
- Domaine de Font-Sane
- Domaine de la Charbonnière
- Domaine de la Côte de l'Ange
- Domaine de la Janasse
- Domaine de la Mordorèe
- Domaine de la Roncière
- Domaine de la Solitude
- Domaine de l'Harmas
- Domaine de Longue Toque
- Domaine de Marcoux
- Domaine de Monpertuis
- Domaine de Nalys
- Domaine de Piaugier
- Domaine de Saint Siffrein
- Domaine des Bosquets
- Domaine des Chanssaud
- Domaine des Entrefaux
- Domaine des Espiers
- Domaine des Florets
- Domaine des Lises
- Domaine des Pères d'Église
- Domaine des Remizières
- Domaine des Sénéchaux
- Domaine du Cayron
- Domaine Duclaux
- Domaine du Galet des Papes
- Domaine du Gour de Chaulé
- Domaine du Grand Bourjassot
- Domaine du Grand Tinel
- Domaine du Grapillon d'Or
- Domaine du Monteillet/Stéphane Montez
- Domaine du Pegau
- Domaine du Pesquier
- Domaine du Pourra
- Domaine du Terme
- Domaine du Tunnel/Stéphane Robert
- Domaine du Vieux Lazaret
- Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe
- Domaine Facchin
- Domaine Font de Michelle
- Domaine Galevan
- Domaine Georges Vernay
- Domaine Gilles Robin
- Domaine Giraud
- Domaine Grand Veneur
- Domaine Henri Bonneau
- Domaine Isabel Ferrando
- Domaine Jean Deydier et Fils/Les Clefs d'Or
- Domaine Jean-Louis Canto
- Domaine Jean-Luc et Jean-Paul Jamet
- Domaine Jean-Michel Gerin
- Domaine J.L. Chave
- Domaine La Barroche
- Domaine La Bouïssiere
- Domaine La Boutinière
- Domaine Lafond Roc-Epine
- Domaine La Millière
- Domaine La Roquète
- Domaine Le Clos des Cazaux
- Domaine Le Plan
- Domaine Les Chênes Blancs
- Domaine Les Goubert
- Domaine Les Pallières
- Domaine Lionnet
- Domaine Mathieu
- Domaine Mathilde et Yves Gangloff
- Domaine Montirius
- Domaine Olivier Hillaire
- Domaine Patrick Jasmin
- Domaine Paul Autard
- Domaine Philippe & Vincent Jaboulet
- Domaine Pierre Usseglio
- Domaine Pontifical
- Domaine Porte Rouge
- Domaine Raspail-Ay
- Domaine Raymond Usseglio & Fils
- Domaine Roger Perrin
- Domaine Roger Sabon
- Domaine Saint-Damien
- Domaine Saint-Gayan
- Domaine Saint-Paul
- Domaine Saint-Préfert
- Domaine Santa Duc
- Domaine Vincent Paris
- Dumien Serrette
- Eddie Féraud
- E. Guigal
- Famille Levet
- Famille Perrin
- Famille Tardieu (Tardieu-Laurent)
- Ferraton Père & Fils
- Franck Balthazar
- Gabriel Meffre
- Jean-Luc Colombo
- J.L. Chave Sélection
- La Bastide Saint-Dominique
- La Bastide Saint Vincent
- Laurent Betton
- Le Cheval Fou
- Le Clos du Caillou
- Le Mas des Flauzières
- Les Cailloux
- Les Halos de Jupiter
- Le Vieux Donjon
- Lionel Faury
- Louis Bernard
- Louis Chèze
- Maison Chapoutier
- Mas de Boislauzon
- Moulin de la Gardette
- M & S Ogier d'Ampuis
- M. Sorrel
- Ogier
- Patrick et Christophe Bonnefond
- Paul Jaboulet Aîné
- Pierre Amadieu
- René Rostaing
- Saint-Cosme
- Thierry Allemand
- Vignerons de Caractère
- Vignobles Mayard
- Xavier Vignon
- Yann Chave
- Yves Cuilleron