Bordeaux may get all the headlines, but there’s more syrah planted in France than cabernet sauvignon.  The Rhône valley has all the famous, top-notch vineyards, but they are tiny in comparison to total plantings, which are widespread across the whole south of France, where syrah is normally blended with grenache, plus cinsault, mourvèdre (mataro) and carignan.

Rhône valley vineyard

Things are quite regulated in the Rhône valley. And the northern Rhône is tiny in comparison to the southern Rhône. The northern ‘crus’ appellations including Cornas, Côte-Rôtie, Crozes-Hermitage, Hermitage and St. Joseph account for only 5% of total Rhône valley production.

The rest is from the broad rolling terrain of the southern Côtes du Rhône and Côtes du Rhône-Villages appellations as well as the likes of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas and Vacqueyras.

In total, France has about 70,000 ha of syrah spread over all these regions, compared to Australia’s 44,000.  But this is just 8.5% of the vineyard area in France whereas Australia has made a massive feature of shiraz, which accounts for more than a quarter of the country’s total vineyard area.

At the crème-de-la-crème end of syrah wine, Côte-Rôtie vies with Hermitage for top dog slot, and it’s often personal preference. They’re on different sides of the river, the ‘roasted slopes’ of Côte-Rôtie face the warm east and south, and the appellation allows the use of viognier in the blend, something that’s also become very trendy in Australia.  Meanwhile Hermitage is considered more muscular and tannic, the slopes face mostly west and south, and the wines must be made 100% of syrah.  The total production of these two appellations combined is in the region of 160,000 cases. Rarity value alone stretches the imagination.

The Hermitage appellation, at just 130 ha, is a hard, granite hill, an outcrop from France’s Massif Central, separated from it by the River Rhône. The river was forced to take a nearly west-east squiggle past the 344m high hill on its way south to the Mediterranean sea.  The west sides, those facing across the river to the Massif, are therefore all granite-based soils. On the east side of the hill, soil influences come more from the Alps, with glacial deposits.

Jaboulet Hermitage

One of the most iconic Hermitage wines is Jaboulet’s La Chapelle. This chapel of Saint Christopher has been owned by Maison Paul Jaboulet Aîné since 1919. Caroline Frey, their winemaker said: ”one of the particularities of La Chapelle is to blend all the different terroirs of Hermitage – Méal, Bessard, Rocoules, Murets – that’s why the wine is so complex and so well balanced, with such a long ageing potential.”

Michel Chapoutier, the seventh generation to run his eponymous business, whose L’Ermite wine is also from Hermitage added, with “the same grape you have different expressions in different soils – the granite part of Hermitage is graphite dominant, in Méal, you get ink.” On this basis a winemaker can choose whether to blend different parcels, as in La Chapelle, or create a unique expression of a single vineyard site, as in L’Ermite. 

Other appellations also have different expressions, he said: “Côte-Rôtie gives black olive and bacon, Cornas is fig leaves.” Chapoutier didn’t restrict his comments to France; he also works in Australia and said of his projects there “the Cambrian rock at Heathcote gives a concentration with ink and violet [and] in the Pyrenees, on schist, it is liquorice and pepper. Even with same clone, we have different expressions thanks to soil.” Terroir, or site-specificity clearly influences syrah’s flavours.

Côte-Rôtie is a little bigger than Hermitage, but still only musters 224 ha in total. It’s generally less tannic, and the best are more floral, fragrant and elegant than Hermitage. Guigal is one of the best regarded proponents of the appellation, and his single vineyard wines La Mouline, La Turque and La Landonne are some of the most sought-after wines.

Guigal Côte Blonde

Philippe Guigal, general manager and winemaker at E. Guigal took up the terroir theme for syrah in the northern Rhône. In terms of quality, he said: “high quality parameters are the vineyard and terroir, and the people behind the terroir. We have a lot of winemakers who counterbalance what is normally done by terroir and nature. On the Côte Blonde, we expect very fine, delicate wines. Brune has more tannins, more structure.” He said some winemakers might do more pumping over on Blonde fruit to counter its delicacy, But at Guigal he added, the “balance is the opposite: if the terroir says the wine should be fine and delicate, we want to keep the level of finesse and delicacy. And to keep the phenolic potential of Brune.” Their ‘Blonde et Brune’ Côte-Rôtie is a blend of fruit from these two vineyards. And the Guigal vineyards are co-planted with a tiny percentage of viognier, as permitted in the regulations. It is all picked at the same time and fermented together with the shiraz.

Given that the northern Rhône appellations account for just 5% of total Rhône production, it is no surprise that the main producers also run merchant businesses in the southern Rhône, buying in fruit and wine, blending it and bottling under their own label, for each appellation. In this respect it’s no different from the bigger Australian companies buying fruit in several regions.  Guigal’s Côtes du Rhône is probably one of the best known brands. Philippe Guigal said: “we taste blind finished samples on a large scale.  Every day [after harvest] we receive 50-60 samples and we select one or two each time. 90% of the time, we buy wine from the same people” even though the wines are tasted blind, which shows both the consistency of the tasting and of the growers.

There are more than 6,000 wine growers in the Rhône Valley, so this type of business is important for Rhône brands. The big southern Côtes du Rhône appellation has different regulations again, and here syrah is a contributor to the blend, which contains grenache, as well as mourvèdre. Syrah adds berry fruits, structure and some fine tannins to a Côtes du Rhône blend. Guigal’s usually has at least 50% syrah, and more in poorer vintages to preserve the structure, while Jaboulet’s Parallèle 45 is usually around 60% grenache with 40% syrah.

But it’s not just the bigger players that run their business as a combination of estate and merchant sectors. Château Mont-Redon started out as a Châteauneuf-du-Pape estate. But since the mid 1990s, said owner Jean Abeille “we conduct two different activities – producer with a wine range under the ‘Château Mont-Redon’ label and wine merchant activity under the ‘Monredon’ brand.” This keeps estate separate from brand, but more than hints at the link.  He said they started partly as a response to customer demand and also for their children who will one day inherit the business.  

So just in the Rhône valley, the wines may be 100% syrah, in the north, or 10% or more in a Côtes du Rhône blend – the original GSM (grenache, syrah/shiraz, mourvèdre) wines.  There’s also plenty of syrah planted in the Roussillon and Languedoc, all across the regions that border the warm Mediterranean Sea, offering syrah a climate that makes it smile.

Caviste £18.95 per 37.5cl bottle

Hobbs Grenache ('07 label)

On the nose your senses are enveloped by sweetly stewed fresh, aromatic strawberries. This light and elegant perfume feeds through to the palate structure, which is intense and concentrated alongside the lightness. This is outrageously delicious. It’s a light, lush, rich, well-balanced, sweet-yet-fresh digestif over which to put the world to rights. It has an unadulterated purity of fruit that finishes very long.  

The wine is made in a ‘passito’ style: the grapes are laid out on racks to dry in air conditioned sheds.  Over time this evaporates a proportion of the water, which leaves all the fruity and structural bits in the grape beautifully concentrated.  The juice yield from these partially desiccated grapes is less than a third that from grapes pressed immediately after harvest.

There’s plenty of residual sweetness to this wine, which is delicately balanced with just 9% alcohol in what is a really refreshing dessert wine.

Deep in the far south of France, edging its southern borders into the foothills of the Pyrenees, and commanding a Mediterranean coastline to the east, lies Roussillon, the sunniest and driest region in France.  Its vineyards cover about the same acreage as those of Champagne, and it is more often than not tacked onto to its much bigger neighbour, making a region covering the whole of southern France – Languedoc-Roussillon.  Yet the wines of Roussillon have an identity and expression all their own.

Roussillon is drenched in both sunshine and history. Vine growing can be traced back thousands of years. And in a similar manner to Alsace, over the centuries Roussillon has passed back and forth between Spanish and French ownership, finally being settled in France in 1659.  In the region’s main city, Perpignan, it is the Palace of Kings of Majorca that holds the city in its gaze, now an historic and tourist monument. Catalan culture remains strong and many people are bi-lingual.

The region has a complex geology, and much that producers speak of is to do with their terroir, and which patch of dirt best suits which of the grape varieties are used in the region. 

Grenache bush vine

Red grape varieties are mainly an extension of those from the better known southern Rhône: grenache, mourvèdre, cinsault, supplemented by carignan, the best examples of which add colour, depth, acidity, and a black fruited meaty spiciness to the blend.  As with neighbouring Languedoc, syrah has been planted for the past 30 years or so, to add with the local varieties.  Whites are based on grenache blanc and increasingly roussanne, marsanne, plus muscat (Alexandria and petits grains) for sweet wines.

What’s rare in a dry, sunny climate is to find white wines with a freshness and minerality that is characteristic in Rousillon. Part of the explanation is altitude. Vineyards are found from sea level up to 550m above the sea.  With an approximate 1°C drop in temperature for every 100m increase in altitude, combined with a tortured topography, it’s possible to envisage cooler plots of land at higher altitudes and aspects away from the sun where white grapes can flourish.

The dry, sunny climatic disposition of Roussillon enables producers to make some excellent wine to organic principles. Without regular moisture, disease pressure is low, lending viticulture to minimum intervention practices.  Domaine Gauby, one of the top producers in Roussillon farms to the more rigorous biodynamic approach. Fourth generation Philippe Mercier, of Domaine Joliette which produces certified organic wines, explained: ““Organic is more a work of observation. I learn a lot by being near to the vines. You need to be near the vineyard to understand the vines and their treatment.”

One of the best open secrets of this self-contained Catalan enclave is the region’s varied fortified wines. Called vins doux naturel (VDN), these are made by adding pure grape spirit to partially fermented grape juice, to create a sweet wine.  The characteristics of the grapes are preserved by using pure spirit, rather than grape brandy.

Maury, and its more famous cousin, Banyuls are made from red grapes, notably grenache, while Rivesaltes is from white.  The wines can be made in more reductive (primary fruit) or more oxidative (nutty, dried and candied fruits) styles.  These latter, tuilé (tawny) styles of red VDN and ambré (amber) styles of white VDN, are a perfect accompaniment to traditional English winter season fare.

Vin Doux Naturels, maturing outside

Of his Maury, Robert Pouderoux, of Domaine Pouderoux said: “We try to finish on freshness, not sugar. If you have a good tannin structure, then even with 100g/l of sugar, you don’t see the sugar, also if you have a good acidity. All the work is the balance of these three – tannin, acidity and sugar.”

Muscat de Rivesaltes is always reductive, always to be drunk within a year after the harvest. Gentle, grapey, aromatic, with an elegance and lightness of touch despite the sweetness.

As concern increases about higher alcohol levels in wine, Vins doux naturels could find themselves becoming fashionable once more.  They consistently have an alcohol level of about 15% abv.  This is undoubtedly similar or even lighter than muscular Australian shirazes or Californian zinfandels. At just three-quarters the alcohol level of port, they also offer a different style of digestif.

Eric Aracil, export manager for the promotional body Vins du Roussillon has suggested ““marrying the colour of wine with the colour of dessert”, which is a new twist on the idea that the wine should be as sweet as, if not slightly sweeter than, the dessert.  Certainly across the styles of VDN, almost every colour can be catered for, from the palest lemon tart Muscat de Rivesaltes to the densest, darkest, most chocolatey Maury.

This article was inspired by a visit to the region sponsored by Wines of Roussillon (Vins du Roussillon).

Rainbow on Montsant

The microscopically concertina-ed hilly landscape of remote, picturesque Priorat (Catalan)/ Priorato (Castilian) is not for the faint-hearted or travel-sickly, but it is well worth the pain and consequences of both to appreciate the scenery and the wines.

The small region is located in the province of Tarragona. It’s about 90 miles and a couple of hours’ drive south west of Barcelona, tracking the coastline before finally heading inland.

It’s roughly 10 kilometres across at its widest point, by about 12 km north to south, and is protected by the Sierra de Montsant in the northwest. The mountain gives its name to another DO, Montsant, which almost completely encircles Priorat (separate article will follow shortly). The vineyards range from 100m to 700m above sea level, necessarily on terraces due to the tightly-folded mountainous terrain. The river Siurana runs through Priorat into the river Ebro on its way from the Rioja region to the Mediterranean sea.

Scala Dei

Priorat takes is name from a priory – the Priorato de Scala Dei (Priory of the Stairway of God) – after an Order of Carthusian monks arrived in 12th century.  The winery in this tiny settlement, Scala Dei, is now owned by Cava house Codorníu).

So vines have been grown in Priorat for centuries, but the wines achieved acclaim as recently as the 1990s, after a ground-breaking group of growers moved in to the tiny hilltop village of Gratallops to make wine. In 1979, it was René Barbier of Clos Mogador, whose family business was relatively nearby in Penedès, who first recognised the region’s potential to produce top quality wine. The friends started by producing a wine each labelled ‘Clos’ to distinguish themselves from the traditional rustic, baked fruit style of wine from the region.

They were, with the current names of their properties:

1989 was their first vintage, at which time the vineyard area had dropped to a low point of about 600 ha. After phylloxera, and after the Civil War, the region was quite isolated, and during the 1940s and ’50s people were migrating to the industrialising cities of Tarragona and Barcelona.

Howling of the wolves

It was at the hilltop village, and heartbeat of ‘new’ Priorat, Gratallops, that these late 20^th century pioneers congretated. This is a village that has barely changed for years, but has seen a regrowth in population to 300 thanks to Priorat’s revival. Gratallops translates as ‘howling of the wolves’, reflecting the fauna of its original remote location; local art installations pay homage to this heritage.

Their early success in crafting top quality wines, often from very old vines and small yields, has drawn in numerous other people to the region, both Spanish and foreign investors. Further acknowledgement was achieved when the DOQ (Catalan)/ DOCa (Spanish) was awarded in 2000, effective from the 2000 vintage. Up till then only Rioja DOCa had the highest quality level of the Spanish wine system.

Mechanisation is virtually impossible in this terrain, and it is the combination of soils and grape varieties that create the serendipitous conditions for strong, muscular red wines that yet retain a certain amount of attractive freshness that is not often found in the warm, sometimes hot, Mediterranean climate of much of Spain.

There are 1,600 hectares (ha) of vines, 40% planted to garnacha (grenache in French), another 30% planted to cariñena (carignan in France), plus 20% to international interlopers cabernet sauvignon, merlot and syrah, thought to ’soften’ the dense, dark, spiciness of the other two. There’s also 100ha of garnacha blanca and macabeo (a.k.a. viura, as in Rioja). Alvaro Palacios, of the eponymous winery, may be drawing away from the international varieties, but Carles Pastrana with his Clos de l’Obac is happy that the three comprise more than 50% of the blend.

Llicorella with root network

The llicorella soil, a local name for the rocky slate and schist which is rich in sparkly quartzite, provides one of the defining characters for Priorat wines. Palacios, who is now more famous for his top L’Ermita wine, said the llicorella is a “metamorphic rock, formed under the earth’s crust where two horizons of limestone had compacted a layer of clay. It has three times more metals and minerals than sedimentary rock [that has not undergone metamorphosis]. The slate is red brown at Finca Dofi, with lots of iron oxide, and very warm. At L’Ermita, there is cooler green slate, which has higher aluminium and zinc.” The exposition and altitude of these two vineyards is also different, but the llicorella is argued to have a primary role in each wine’s flavour profile.

Thin clay layers are important. The region has less than 400mm annual rainfall, which would usually demand irrigation for vineyards, and some irrigation does exist here. But not everywhere. Palacios added: “we have 35% clay in the licorella. The layers of slate have clay powder in between which retain moisture.” Barbier added that vine roots penetrate the llicorella, and a fine mat of roots develops in the layers where the moist clay powder resides, able to draw on the moisture. With the tiny yields garnered by top producers, it would seem that this is sufficient to keep the vine watered through the dry Mediterranean summer.

Clos Mogador

For producers such as Barbier and Palacios, working the land as naturally as possible is important. The amphitheatre of the narrowly-terraced Clos Mogador vineyard is covered with grasses and flowers in Spring, which are mown by hand-held strimmer after they’ve flowered, to give the vine more air. The foliage is then ploughed into the soil over the summer. Barbier is a man convinced by the benefits of biodiversity, and retains the traditional cherries, almonds, peaches, and olives interspersed with his vineyards.

Over the past three or four years Priorat producers have been developing a ‘village’ concept for some of their wines. Called ‘Vi de Vila’ (wine of the village), all the fruit used must come from the property of the producer and be within the newly-defined viticultural boundaries of the village (which differ from the administrative boundaries). The idea is that each village may have (or become to have) its own identity. Thus Palacios’ new Vi de Vila is called Gratallops, as the vines are within the Gratallops borders. The first vintage, 2007, will be released during 2009. Other villages include Porrera, Poboleda and Bellmunt.

Vintage conditions are also important in this warm area. 2003, 2004 and 2005 were very hot. 2006, 2007 and 2008 were a little cooler. This shows in the wines, with greater elegance and freshness (acidity) in the more recent vintages. The wines retain their famed muscularity and broad shoulders, but a little coolness seems to tone their brute strength and slim the waist to more attractive proportions.

Such is the region’s stellar reputation that producers are still coming to Priorat, with the number reaching nearly 100, from about 70 in the last quarter of 2008. But they pay the price for land. What cost less than €1,000/ha 30 years ago, was costing something like €60 to €80,000 /ha a couple of years ago.

This article was inspired by a visit to the region sponsored by Wines from Spain.

Palacios was one of René Barbier’s group of friends who resurrected the wines of Priorat in the late 1980s and 1990s with his Clos Dofi (later renamed to Finca Dofi). His Priorat property was founded in 1989, when there were only 600 hectares (ha) of vineyard left in the largely abandoned wine region.

His Priorat property is 30 ha. He also works with 110 producers and 150 parcels.  The densely-folded mountain terrain necessitates terraces and vineyard parcels can be quite tiny.

L’Ermita is his most famous vineyard. It’s a north-facing, so away from the sun in the northern hemisphere, single vineyard slope at 400 to 520m above sea level, planted only to garnacha.

With more than 20 years experience in Priorat, Palacios has begun to move away from using international grapes such as cabernet sauvignon in his wines.  He says he’s favouring more of the traditional garnacha. His wines still contain the international varieties, but, he said: “all the wines will be more and more garnacha.”

Alvaro Palacios

He is also reverting from trellised vines to the bush training of the original vineyards. He said: “I’ve realised in the last years of heat and drought the bush vineyards are better.  The ‘bush’ is close to ground, so the sap does not have far to travel. And there is no humidity to avoid.” Trellis training is usually higher, as it is traditionally found in areas where humidity needs to be avoided.  Also, he added: “On trellises, grapes are exposed to the sun. On bush vines, the fruit is in the shade,” so in a warm to hot Mediterranean climate, the fruit does not burn and become raisined on the vine.

Priorat wines:

• L’Ermita. 100% garnacha on a north facing granite slope of 1.75ha.
• Finca Dofi: a ‘modern’ style, according to Palacios, coming from young vines and fruit he doesn’t use for L’Ermita. North and east facing slopes on limestone.
• Gratallops. A new wine in 2009, from the 2007 vintage. A wine from the village.
• Les Terrasses: 9ha estate in Gratallops. North-east/south-west and east aspect. 250 to 350m asl.
• Camins del Priorat: a new wine in 2009, from the 2007 vintage.

Tasting notes (tasted March 2009, at the property)

Camins del Priorat 2007: 55% carinena, 35% garnacha, rest cabernet sauvignon and syrah.  Fresh, supple, red fruits, silky texture, really approachable. Sweet fruit.

Les Terrasses 2007: For the first time in 2007, the wine is made from old vines, 60 years plus. 60% carinena, 30% garnacha, some cabernet sauvignon and syrah. 12 months in barrique, 25% new.  Spicy, red berried fruit, with attractive fragrance.  Elegant, defined. Rich fruit.

Gratallops, Vi de Vila, 2007: 35% garnacha, 40% carinena, cabernet sauvignon. Chewy, bright, fresh, linearity and poise, good concentration, and depth of fresh fruit. Balance and deportment. Long finish, vg

Finca Dofi 2007: 55% garnacha, rest cabernet sauvignon, syrah. Bit of merlot in cooler vintages such as 2007.  Deep colour, fresh, bright, crunchy berry and cherry, finely grained youthful tannins. Long palate length. Sensual texture. Medium full body, smoothening mid-palate.

L’Ermita 2007: medium deep colour; cherry, bitter chocolate, liquorice. Sweet spice to the red berry fruit. Succulence of fruit, no massive bulk/hulk; elegance and finesse. Fine textured sweet tannins.

L’Ermita 2008: bright medium cherry colour. Pure cherry and strawberry, light yet with concentration, finely grained tannins, very serious wine with intellect.

This article was inspired by a visit to the region sponsored by Wines from Spain.