Never a Dull Vintage in the Northern Rhône

BY JOSH RAYNOLDS | DECEMBER 22, 2022

It’s an interesting time for wineries in the Northern Rhône valley. On the one hand, demand for their wines, especially for small-production, single-vineyard bottlings, is higher than ever. On the other, nature hasn’t been playing nice for the last several vintages. Luckily, the best producers have handled the increasingly challenging conditions with aplomb.

The village of Cornas, viewed from the steep, winding road down from its summit.

2021: Reality Hits Hard

The 2021 growing season was extremely complicated and all over the place weather-wise. March was beyond abnormally hot, with temperatures as high as 90 degrees Fahrenheit, foreshadowing a likely early budding. In the end, the growers’ worst fears across the region were realized; the budding started quickly, and, unfortunately, the heat wave was followed by a severe frost on April 8th, which caused a loss of over one-third of the crop for the Northern Rhône. Some vineyards lost their entire harvest. Erratic temperatures with heat spikes, cold dips and hail occurred throughout the rest of the season. An overabundance of rain, often poorly timed, brought on mildew and rot issues throughout many areas in July, which required careful, not to mention expensive, attention in the vineyards and severe fruit-thinning from what was already a diminished yield. That was especially difficult to accomplish considering the labor shortages that plagued French wine regions during the peak of COVID-19 days, with seemingly perpetual lockdowns, quarantines and travel restrictions taking their toll. Wineries with locally based, full-time crews fared better than those traditionally relying on outside, seasonal or temporary workers. Smaller domaines, with less vineyard area to cover, could usually handle things better than the big players, who require more hands on deck, but not always.

The southern sector of Crozes-Hermitage, especially around Mercurol, suffered severe losses due to the April frost, up to 100% in several cases. Many apricot and peach trees, which continue to be a relatively significant part of the region’s agricultural landscape, literally and figuratively, lost all their crop, which stung small family wineries here that still depend on their fruit harvest for income. So, some estates suffered a double whammy. Up north, however, there were no issues in the vineyards of Gervans, Larnage and the actual village of Crozes-Hermitage. At Hermitage, things were far better as the hill suffered no frost damage. Cornas was hit hard by the frost in its upper vineyards, but it was even worse further down the slopes and into the flatlands, where in some sites, there was total loss. Luckily, vineyards in the southern sector of Saint-Joseph mostly dodged the killer frosts, although some of the flatter areas near Châteaubourg, just a bit north of Cornas, were slightly affected. Vineyards in the northern sector were not so fortunate, as some around Condrieu lost up to 50% of their fruit. Côte-Rôtie’s high-elevation vineyards were hit extremely hard, but according to a few growers, the sunniest sites mitigated the frost to a certain degree and fared well. That’s a small comfort because production here was off by around 50%, and some vineyards lost all of their fruit. As a result, many regional producers did not or will not bottle single-vineyard or special-selection wines, instead opting to blend what wine they could produce into a single “basic” or “village” bottling. Needless to say, this is a vintage to watch very closely.

Guigal's impeccably maintained cellar, from which almost five million bottles are produced annually, including some of the best wines from the entirety of the Rhône valley.

2020: Dodging Bullets