### The 2013 and 2012 Northern Rhône Wines

Northern Rhône fans will find two very different vintages in 2013 and 2012. A cool growing season and late harvest yielded nervy, edgy wines in 2013, while warmer, drier conditions in 2012 resulted in supple, forward reds and whites that will drink well upon release.

**A Contemporary Perspective**

It's hard to believe that not so many years ago most northern Rhône wines, aside from tiny-production items and bottles from a handful of cult producers, were languishing on retail shelves, in restaurants' cellars and on wholesalers' close-out lists. With the exception of a handful of well-known wines such as Guigal's single-vineyard Côte-Rôties, Chave’s Hermitage and Jaboulet's Hermitage La Chapelle, these were pretty serious insider wines. Chapoutier's quality turnaround had kicked into gear, the situation at Delas had greatly improved, and producers such as Clape, Jamet, Ogier and Rostaing had built solid reputations and loyal followings, but after that the bottom dropped precipitously.

Fast forward to the here and now and things have been turned completely on their head. The asking prices for wines from Jamet and Chave have gone through the roof, and bottles from extinct northern Rhône domaines like Gentaz-Dervieux, Raymond Trollat and Noël Verset are regularly commanding up to a thousand dollars, and that’s if you’re even able to find them in the secondary market. That’s quite a change from the late 1980s, when I first started visiting these growers.

![](https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1423090413832-COVER+Clape1+-+vinous.JPG)

_Part of the Clape family's library of old Cornas_

While there’s no single dominant reason for this dramatic and relatively recent turn of events, I have no doubt that a major factor is the even more extreme upswing in prices for small-production Burgundies, which themselves leapt up in response to skyrocketing tariffs for collectible Bordeaux. In the hearts and minds of most of the world's most serious and deep-pocketed wine collectors France still rules, and, historically, the regions that most wine buyers have regarded as France's big dogs are Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône Valley, the north in particular.

The northern Rhône's historic reputation as one of the world's premier wine-producing regions is largely attributable to the fame of Hermitage, whose red wines in particular have been highly collectible for literally centuries. It's hard to find a book or article on the wines of the Rhône that doesn't retell the story of Thomas Jefferson visiting Hermitage in 1787 and declaring its white wine "the first wine in the world without exception" (look, it just happened again!). And Pliny the Elder's writing on the wines of Vienne (i.e., Côte-Rôtie) in 71 A.D. have been quoted for generations as well. So it's not as if the region came out of nowhere, like many hot winegrowing areas that emerged on the scene in the second half of the 20th century.

What kept the wines somewhat under wraps for most mainstream consumers is the fact that, aroma- and flavor-wise, classic northern Rhône Syrah and also Marsanne and Roussanne aren't exactly easy to warm up to. Unlike the fruitier wines made from Pinot Noir or even Syrah's southern counterpart Grenache, the reds of the northern Rhône showcase wild, even feral qualities like raw, cured or smoked meats, olive, leather and earth. Plus, the fruit character of northern Rhône red wines often leans heavily toward dark and even bitter notes like cherry and blackcurrant, while the wild success of Pinot Noir and Grenache/Garnacha suggests strongly that for most wine lovers, red berries rule.

Aside from Condrieu (made from Viognier), the white wines of the northern Rhône are equally perplexing to palates attuned to succulent, juicy Chardonnays and even Rieslings and Sauvignon Blancs, what with their dried fruit, nut and herb element and often austere dryness. Production from all of the northern Rhône's wine regions has always been small, which has limited the wines' reach across markets as well, and this is not going to change any time soon. Add in the fact that for many years, even decades, most winemaking in the northern Rhône was rustic and at times downright primitive, with the expected funky results, and you have a recipe for a vinous no-go zone for most consumers.

**The Implications of Modern-Day Winemaking**

The international market's newfound interest in northern Rhône wines is a direct result of vastly improved--meaning in most cases modernized and sanitized--winemaking. The same generation of grower/producers who began to take cellar work seriously applied every bit as much dedication to vineyard work, bringing the overall standard of soil and vine care to the level of their colleagues’ efforts in Burgundy and Bordeaux. Those collectors who are old enough to remember wading through bottle after bottle of questionable Syrah and Marsanne-based wines in the 1960s, 1970s and most of the 1980s are downright shocked—pleasantly so—by the number of impeccably made wines the northern Rhône is producing now.

![](https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1423092472424-The+abandoned+railroad+tunnel+that+gives+St%C3%A9phane+Robert%27s+domaine+its+name.JPG)

_The abandoned railroad tunnel that gives Stéphane Robert's domaine its name_

When I made my first visits to these cellars back in June 1989, the number of must-visits estates was a handful or two. Today, thanks to the efforts of a newer generation of producers, that number is now in the dozens. Modern and enlightened farming and winemaking practices have much to do with the accelerated quality curve, as does the fact that the Rhône Valley, in general, no longer functions in the relative obscurity than it did in the past. The best domaines here are now run by worldly, highly educated and curious men and women whose talent and experience matches that of their colleagues from any region any region, anywhere in the world.

Moreover, the better producers today are reliable, year in and out, pretty much regardless of vintage conditions. Consistent quality is critical for any producer's reputation, and it’s a particular achievement in a northern continental region such as this one, where weather conditions can shift wildly from season to season. Simply put, the best winemakers, anywhere, are skilled enough to make the most of—and overcome the shortcomings of—difficult vintages as well as to take maximum advantage of the best ones. Nowadays, making purchasing decisions based more on the winemaker than on the vintage is as sound a strategy here as it is in Burgundy.

![](https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1423090529439-Tasting+at+Paul+Jaboulet+%C3%82ine+in+Tain+l%27Hermitage.JPG)

_Bernard Faurie in his tiny cellar in Tournon_

**The 2013 Growing Season**

Take 2013. Every producer I visited during my trip in December described the growing season as "difficult," "crazy," "stressful" or "unpredictable" courtesy of a cool, rainy spring that stunted flowering, especially for Viognier. Mildew was an ongoing danger into the summer, which Stéphane Ogier called "the summer that never happened," and Jacques Desnervois of Jaboulet described as “just an extension of spring, so the longest spring ever." The cool spring had less ill effect on Syrah than on the white grapes, and Syrah yields were normal for most growers I visited. But getting the fruit to mature was a challenge, and harvesting late was essential if growers were to have sufficiently ripe fruit to support the firm acidity levels.

As it turned out, the 2013 harvest was one of the latest in the region's history, according to most of the producers I visited, with picking often going to the second week of October. Alexis Gerin called it "a waiting game" and Agnès Levet said her family commenced their harvest at Côte-Rôtie on the 1st of October and wrapped up the on 14th, "luckily with no weather issues at all during the two weeks we picked." The resulting wines are generally fresh and lively, with an emphasis on red fruits. Tannin levels seem to be sound but perhaps not high enough to support long-term cellaring. Fans of nervy, concentrated (thanks to the low yields) white Rhône wines will be thrilled with what was possible in 2013 but they'll have to move fast to secure what they can from a production that's severely down from normal levels.

![](https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1423090803977-E.+Guigal+in+C%C3%B4te-R%C3%B4tie.JPG)

_E. Guigal in Côte-Rôtie_

**The 2012 Growing Season**

As for 2012, growers enjoyed another healthy crop that pretty much matched the yields of 2013. While the spring of '12 was cool and damp as in 2013, with the same risk of mildew, summer actually happened and the soils dried up. The vineyards enjoyed a warm, dry stretch from early July through a leisurely harvest that began in mid-September and lasted until the first week of October under fine conditions.

I'm finding the 2012 red wines to be quite agreeable already, with plenty of upfront fruit and good depth, fairly easygoing tannins and, in many cases, early aromatic complexity. Since the grapes were generally riper—not to mention larger—in 2012 than in 2013, the wines have more supple tannins and are, simply put, juicier and rounder, with gentler acidity and slightly darker fruit character. While their generally forward fruit character makes them good choices for early drinking (restaurant alert!), the best wines also appear to possess the requisite concentration for at least mid-term aging. Vintages that were initially dismissed as meager and meant for early consumption like 1996, 1997, 2004, 2006 and 2007 have provided some truly memorable bottles for me in recent years and I suspect that 2012 (and 2011, while we're at it) will do the same.

The 2012 whites tend to be quite attractive right now, rounder than the ‘13s and showing less citrus and mineral character. Wine lovers who enjoy the supple orchard and pit fruit-dominated style of Rhône whites have many good options. While acidity levels seem sound enough to support aging over the short to medium term, I'd be inclined to err on the young side and start in on these wines now or in the next year or two and then decide which to hold and which to drink up.

I tasted the vast majority of these wines in the Rhône in December and followed up with more tastings of finished wines in New York in January.

--Josh Raynolds



The 2013 and 2012 Northern Rhône Wines

The 2013 and 2012 Northern Rhône Wines (Feb 2015)

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