It was with great anticipation that four of us from the armit team travelled to the Rhône Valley earlier this month to taste the 2010 vintage.
Travelling through Côte Rôtie, Condrieu and Hermitage in the North and Gigondas, Vacqueyras and Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the South, we tasted just shy of eighty samples from thirteen producers. Find out more about our Rhône producers here.
Our guide was the splendid Charles Blagdon who not only arranged our tastings with military precision, but made sure we never went hungry. We had dinner and lunch at a number of incredible locations. The highlight was the fabulous L’Oustalet Restaurant, set in the picturesque cobbled town square of Gigondas. Charles also arranged for clear blue skies and 25C on each day of the trip! Not bad for October...
Our overall impression?
The vintage is absolutely stunning and the wines are of immense concentration, the best showing a brilliant balance of rich, ripe tannin and refreshing acidity.
Nature provided something of an unexpected boost early in the vintage as the flowering in Spring was very poor, particularly in Grenache.
Far from being a disaster, this meant that the fruit that did set was able to take advantage of the perfect growing conditions of periods of very hot days, cool nights, and just enough rain before harvest to prevent the fruit lively and vibrant.
The whites too are incredibly pure, offering crisp acidity and very well defined fruit in both the North and South.
Thanks must go to all of the winemakers who took the time out from pressing the new harvest of grapes (2011 vintage) to talk us through each of their offerings.
Blog by Matt Thompson
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