Wine of the times
So what's all the noise about the Côtes-du-Rhône? Fiona Sims and a Caterer panel slurp their way through a line-up of Villages wines to find out.
Of all the French regions, the Rhône has probably been the most visible recently. This year alone, we have seen black London taxis painted red and splashed with the Côtes-du-Rhône logo, liveried balloons flying all over our countryside, and "rickshaws" similarly decked ferrying Londoners from one watering hole to another. This is not to mention the copious ads in the national press, on billboards and on the London Underground.
So, Caterer thought it would find out what all the fuss was about.
Wines labelled Côtes-du-Rhône, the catch-all appellation for the Rhône Valley, are already huge in the supermarkets - for good reason: there's plenty of it. Its annual crop can be three times as large as Beaujolais and not much less than that in Bordeaux. If you pick through the dross, there are some great-value gluggers - and, because of this, the Côtes-du-Rhône surely deserve a place on restaurant wine lists. However, with the industry's current obsession with fruit-driven wines from the New World, the Rhône has been getting rather neglected in this sector of late.
Of course, this observation does not include the northern part of the valley, with the likes of Côte-Rôtie, Condrieu and Hermitage. These, and other appellations in the northern Rhône, represent less than one-tenth of the total production in the Rhône Valley but produce almost all the fine wine - with allocations fought over and listings jealously guarded.
No, we're talking southern Rhône - a whole different ball game. Even the landscape is different. As you wind your way south through the valley, verdant oak forest on steep, crumbling, granite terraces gives way to broad, stony patches of herb-scented scrub, and olive groves galore.
The quality of Côtes-du-Rhône varies enormously, from bog standard to some pretty serious stuff - the latter, typically, either from one of the better names or lesser wines from producers in grander appellations.
Côtes-du-Rhône Villages, the subject of this tasting, is a distinct step up. And with prices only marginally higher than for regular Côtes-du-Rhône, the Villages wines (there are 95 communes signed up) can offer great value for money. But it does get confusing. Sixteen of the best Villages have the right to display their names on labels, and a few more have achieved even greater status in recent years with their own appellation, becoming one of the region's crus. There are 13 crus in the Rhône Valley, with the majority in the north, but there are five in the south, including Gigondas, Vacqueyras, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the region's jewel.
Grenache is the big grape here, accounting for 40% of all red Côtes-du-Rhône. Its most usual, but by no means only, blending partners are Syrah and Mourvèdre. White and rosé production is tiny, with just 2% each of output.
The venue
The tasting took place at the two-Michelin-starred Le Champignon Sauvage in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Chef-patron David Everitt-Matthias and his wife, Helen, who is also the restaurant manager, are big Rhône fans and have a sizeable line-up from the region on their list. "My food is quite powerful, and Rhône wines stand up to it," says Everitt-Matthias.
After the tasting, Everitt-Matthias cooked up a six-course Rhône-friendly extravaganza. Best all-rounder (and, in fact, the only three-star wine) was the Rasteau Villages wine from Domaine Saint Gayan, which even managed to stand up to his most intensely flavoured dish of Chinese-spiced pork belly and roast venison with bay boletus, crosnes, roasted beetroot and horseradish. "This is really Côte-Rôtie food," whispers taster Robin Jones.
The panel
The tasting was led by Caterer wine editor Fiona Sims and included the aforementioned Robin Jones, proprietor and wine buyer of the one-Michelin-starred Croque-en-Bouche restaurant in Malvern Wells, Hereford & Worcester; David Moore, proprietor and wine buyer of the one-Michelin-starred Pied à Terre restaurant, London; Fiona Beckett, food and wine writer and author; Barny Haughton, chef-proprietor of the Quartier Vert restaurant in Bristol; and David and Helen Everitt-Matthias.
The tasting
Eighteen red Côtes-du-Rhône Villages wines were tasted blind, plus two southern Rhône cru wines - a Vacqueyras and a Gigondas - which were sent inadvertently. Vintages ranged from 1997 to 2000, and prices ranged from £4.72 to £8.20 per bottle, duty paid, excluding VAT.
The verdict
Jones sells a fair amount of (mostly top-end) Rhône wines through his restaurant and through the merchant side of his business. But what did he think of this line-up? "Overall, it was a good run of nice, fruity wines with only one or two dogs," he said. "But I would have difficulty selling them, because they are too cheap for most of my customers. The problem with the Côtes-du-Rhône is that a lot of people think they've moved on from this, and today it's all about finding customers something exciting to drink. There has to be a story to sell wine these days."
Haughton disagreed. "I would be very happy to sell most of these wines in my restaurant," he said. "They were generally good, with lots of lovely fruit and very typical of the region, with a character you would expect. They're our kind of wine, and the price is right, too."
Beckett added a cautionary note for the industry. "The climate is changing," she said. "People will be looking for value when they eat out - especially after Christmas. And people will be looking for hearty food with good-value, fruity wines, and this is exactly what these are. In the general scheme of things, these wines aren't expensive. It's a good style of wine for the times."
Moore felt that the wines were possibly "too gutsy" for Pied à Terre's food. He is continually looking for good matches for chef Shane Osborn's food, and could think of only one dish at his restaurant that would stand up to these wines - a pork belly with anise-centred carrot purée. "We need softer, more elegant wines," he declared. "These would make great bistro wines, though."
Côtes-du-Rhône Villages - the results
Prices are per bottle DPD, excluding VAT unless otherwise stated
* Recommended
Very good
* Best quality
*
Domaine Saint Gayan, Rasteau, 1999
£7.50, Yapp
Tel: 01747 860423
Domaine Sainte-Anne, Saint Gervais, 1998
£8.20, Tanners
Tel: 01743 234500
Domaine de la Guicharde, Cuvée Genest, 1999
£5, Great Western Wine Co
Tel: 01225 322800
Rocher, Cairanne, 1999
£6.49, Wine Treasury
Tel: 020 7793 9999
L'Oratoire St Martin, Cuvée Prestige, Cairanne, 1999
£7.60, Berkmann Wine Cellars
Tel: 020 7609 4711
Domaine Richaud, Cairanne, 1999
£7.30, Liberty
Tel: 020 7720 5350
*
Olivier Cuilleras, Visan, 2000
£6.25, Great Western Wine Co
Tel: 01225 322800
*
Domaine de Mourchon, Grande Reserve, Séguret, 1998
£5.95, Berkmann Wine Cellars
Tel: 020 7609 4711
*
Château du Grand Moulas, 1999
£6.55, Tanners
Tel: 01743 234500
*
Domaine de la Presidente, Max Aubert, 1999
£4.72, Stevens Garnier
Tel: 01865 263300
*
Domaine La Montagne D'Or, Séguret, 1999
£6.49, Tanners
Tel: 01743 234500
* Domaine Brusset, Cairanne, 2000
£5.86, Enotria Winecellars
Tel: 020 8961 4411
We also tasted
Louis Bernard, Les Domaines Bernard, 2000
Les Domaniales, Domaine Bernard, 1999
Domaine La Montagne d'Or, Séguret, 1998
Domaine de Coyeaux, Beaumes de Venise, 1998
Domaine Gondran, Vacqueyras, 1998
Domaine Gondran, Gigondas, 1997
