Rhone Style Wines by David Girard

About four years ago, our vineyard manager, Ron Mansfield, a winemaker from another winery and I decided we would visit the Rhone grape-growing area of France.  That’s where—well, almost—the Rhone River, which comes out of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, flows into the Mediterranean.  At that time, we were becoming interested in the possibility of making Rhone style wines.  “Rhone style” typically means a lighter style red wine.  Rhone style wines are lighter in character from Bordeaux style wines, for example, where such grapes as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, and Cabernet Franc are grown. 

In France, each designated area such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, and the Rhone, is limited to the types of grapes they can grow.  That is, each area is permitted to grow only those grapes specified by law for that area.  In the Rhone, fifteen grape varietals are permitted.  The Rhone reds include Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre.  The whites include Viognier, Grenache Blanc, and Roussanne.  On our vineyard, we grow nine Rhone varietals.

The first thing I learned on our trip was some of the names of cities in the Rhone:  Avignon, Vacqueyras, Orange, and Gigondas.  I learned there is both a Northern and Southern Rhone area.  Each makes a different style of wine.  In the Southern appellation or area, is the famous Châteauneuf du Pape region.  Châteauneuf du Pape takes in a number of cities and is so named because that is where Pope John XXII built his summer residence (to escape the heat and bustle of Avignon) in the small village of Châteauneuf. In 1309, Pope John XXII’s predecessor, Pope Clément had moved one branch of the Papacy from the Vatican to Avignon where it remained until 1378. This period was known as the Great Schism.  It was sort of like former Governor Gray Davis setting up in Reno because he couldn’t accept that he’d been recalled and Arnold was put in charge in Sacramento.

So, what are some of the characteristics of Rhone style wines?  As I mentioned, they tend to be a lighter style.  They also tend to be blended.  That is, more than one varietal is in the bottle.  We make a Viognier-Roussanne blend for example.  We’ll leave the benefits of blending for another day.  But briefly, blending can provide balance, structure, and interest to wines.  As in food, one ingredient may be excellent.  One ingredient also may be boring.  Think tomatoes.  Think zucchini.  Think eggplant.  Think garlic.  Think ratatouille.  Perhaps ratatouille is not a great example, but I hope you get the idea.  By the way most wines, even those denominated as varietals such as “Cabernet Sauvignon,” “Syrah,” and “Merlot”—usually are a bit of a blend.

Ultimately, our trip focused on the question:  “How do the Rhones taste?”  Based on our non-technical analysis, we felt Rhone wines were better than we thought.  They were even better than we recalled through previous experience.

We believe that Rhone style wines are wonderful wines.  As we go forward, we believe that we will make ourselves and our valued clients very happy if we continue to succeed in making quality wines in the Rhone style.