Great Wine Made Simple - Andrea Immer [72]
Cornas (Core-NASS) St. Joseph (San-Jo-SEFF), and Crozes-Hermitage (Crows air-mee-TAHJH) A step down the ladder, although some Cornas are of a quality equal to Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie. Professional tasters call Crozes-Hermitage “Crozes” for short, and refer to the style as “baby” Hermitage. It has a similar flavor, but with less body, tannin, and intensity. Most of the Hermitage wineries make this appellation, too.
The best producers are:
Hermitage: Chapoutier (Shuh-POO-tee-ay) and Chave (Shahv) are the most famous. Jaboulet (Jah-boo-LAY) are the makers of the famous Hermitage La Chapelle (lah Shah-PELL), a single vineyard Hermitage named for the tiny thirteenth-century chapel that still stands there. Sorrel (Soh-RELL), Vidal-Fleury (Vee-DAHL Fluh-REE), and Delas (Duh-LAHSS) are other good names.
Côte-Rôtie: Guigal (Ghee-GAL) is the standard-bearer. Gentaz (Jhahn-TAHZ), Dervieux (Dehr-vee-YOU), Rostaing (Row-STANG), and Jasmin (Jhahz-MAN) are excellent, too.
Cornas: Auguste Clape (CLAHP) is the best producer, and Jean-Luc Colombo is another excellent name. Many of the Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie wineries above also make Cornas.
St. Joseph: Chapoutier and Jaboulet have the biggest market presence.
Crozes-Hermitage: The most famous Crozes producer is Alain Graillot (Grye-OH). The biggest Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie wineries listed above also produce Crozes.
WHITES The Northern Rhône’s white wine production is tiny but interesting. Around the Côte-Rôtie district, the white Viognier grape, which we tasted in the last chapter, makes exotic, floral wines in two appellations—Condrieu (Cohn-dree-YOU) and Château Grillet (Gree-YAY). They are rare and thus expensive, but interesting to try if you find them. They are also the model for varietal Viognier wines from California and other New World sources.
In the Hermitage district, two white grapes are planted—Marsanne (Mahr-ZANN) and Roussanne (ROO-sahn). The two are blended to make a small quantity of white Hermitage—the paradigm for the tiny quantities of Marsanne and Roussanne wines from New World regions (mostly California). The St. Joseph and Crozes-Hermitage appellations also produce tiny quantities of white wine, worth trying if you find them.
The Southern Rhône
“Didn’t I just see you on the road?” The words were spoken in French, and I had been there so long I could actually detect the French version of a southern drawl. It was Henri Brunier of the Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe (View Teh-luh-GRAFF), a top winery in the Southern Rhône’s famous Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Shah-toe-NUFF duh POP) district. As I had just learned, it is a pretty big district. Being on a shoestring budget I had settled at the Avignon youth hostel, then hopped a bus to the famously named village.
But the famous Châteauneuf (the shorter nickname pros use) wineries that I had planned to visit were several miles out of town, so I walked. I was embarrassed, but there was no hiding the thick dust on my shoes. “You will have lunch with us,” he said. I joined a couple of generations of Bruniers at the kitchen table for cold chicken (which was delicious; French chickens aren’t like the tasteless industrial birds we have here) and wine, and they explained to me the different vineyards I had passed on my trek.
Although a total of thirteen grapes (white and red) are approved for use in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, in practice the best reds are blended mainly from four grapes: Syrah, Grenache (Gruh-NAHSH—called Garnacha in Spain, and the world’s most widely planted red grape), Cinsault (San-SEW), and Mourvèdre (More-VED-ruh). Their style is full-bodied, rich, raisiny, spicy, and powerful, and like the Northern Rhône wines, they are capable of long aging. The best producers, in addition to Vieux Télégraphe, are Château de Beaucastel (Bow-cass-TELL) and Château Rayas (Ray-AHSS), which is such a collector wine that you are unlikely to see it in stores. Other good ones are Château Fortia (FORE-shuh), Mont-Redon (Mohn Ruh-DOHN), Château la Nerthe (lah NAIRTH), Clos du Mont Olivet (Cloe duh