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Wines of Interest >  Rhone Valley
The soil in the Southern Rhone contains large stones that soak up the sun during the day and act like storage heaters at night keeping the vines feet warm!Of all the great wine regions of France, the Rhone valley, split into its two distinct parts, provides the greatest choice of styles and budgets. The north is dedicated to the monoculture of Syrah which, the odd splash of Viognier notwithstanding, does here what Pinot Noir does for Burgundy. Dark and fascinating, Syrah reaches its pinnacle here creating great, brooding wines capable of long ageing. Move south and a spread of different grapes comes into play. The hotter conditions are enjoyed by Grenache, Mourvedre, Cinsault and a handful of others as well as Syrah, which combine into variants from agreeably peppery, simple Cotes du Rhone all the way to richly flavoured, powerful Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas. There are plenty of gems studded into the southern landscape which are shadowed by the latter pair, but which, in the right hands, also earn special recognition. Lirac is the obvious example and where the previously mentioned right hands belong to Christophe Delorme, one of the great winemakers of the Rhone, crafting amazing wines at the Domaine de la Mordoree, the wild fruit and intensity make such rankings redundant. White Rhones behave like an esoteric sense of humour; you either get it or you don't. Mordoree's White Lirac, kind of obscure, nonetheless outshines many an unexpectedly fashionable, yet strangely dull, white Chateauneuf with great flair and at a far better price.
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Wines of Interest >  Rhone Valley