Exploring Northern Rhône Whites

BY JOSH RAYNOLDS | MAY 28, 2020

The hot growing conditions that defined the 2017, 2018 and 2019 vintages in the Northern Rhône show in the white wines, but the best examples also offer a good bit of energy to counterbalance their richness and ripeness. Simply put, the whites here have never been better, while the top bottlings are easily some of the world’s finest wines. 

Even though whites make up a tiny percentage of Northern Rhône production, they are a very important part of the vinous landscape. Almost all of the top producers here make at least one white wine, and the larger négociants usually produce a number of bottlings, often from every region up and down the river. Recent vintages in the northern Rhône (and across France) produced generous, fruit-driven wines that, in most cases, will likely show their best soon after release and over the coming three to six years.

Saint-Michel-sur-Rhône is home to both top vineyards and some of the region's best cellars.

2017: Big, Rich and Forward

Coulure, which is the failure of fruit to set after flowering, attacked Condrieu with a vengeance because of a harsh cold snap during the first week of June. Many vineyards, especially the low-lying sites, suffered up to 50% and even higher crop loss, a number of producers told me. The growing season that followed was hot and dry, which pushed sugars up, while alcohol levels of a number of wines cruised to 15% and higher. Many of the Condrieus lean heavily to the exotic side, with more tropical fruit character than usual and also open-knit textures, meaning that this is a vintage where I would usually err on the side of youth when making my drinking plans.

Growers in the southern sector of the region, meaning Saint-Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage, Hermitage and Saint-Péray, fared much better, with no spring frost but the same hot and dry growing conditions. Again, many of the wines possess high alcohol levels and show distinctly ripe, even exotic character and acidities that are on the low side. Because of the steep ascent of sugar levels, the harvest – of healthy, rot-free fruit, it should be noted – took place earlier than usual, lest the fruit head too far around the ripeness bend. As with Condrieu, most of these wines, aside from the best Hermitages, are likely be most enjoyed on the early side. There are only a small handful of wines that I’d be thrilled to find in my cellar seven or more years after the vintage.

Daniel Brissot, who managed the 1,000 hectares of vineyards for the Cave de Tain for 35 years, explains the granite soils of the Hermitage hill.