Friday, October 13, 2006
The Wall Street Journal takes a critical look at one of my favorite red wine regions, the Cotes du Rhone today and really pans the region other than a few they found to be good, but at the higher price points.
I've not had the same experience, and having tasted many of the 2003 and 2004 Cotes du Rhones back during the Decoverez du Rhone event in March 2005 find their comments somewhat disturbing, not by what they said, because I tend to agree, but because there are better wines out there.
Either the wines I tasted never made it to the USA, or the wines that they found and reviewed were more of the low end wines. My guess is the wines they found were more supermarket grade wines or doctored blends made for some USA importers who like to see wines at a price point, so they simply arrange to have winemakers bottle generic wine and put a label on it that says Cotes du Rhone. That said, I do agree with the chart they listed of the better wines.
There are some others that are as good or better. For starters the new 2004 Chateau du Trignon is solid, as are its two Cotes du Rhone Village offerings including the Sablet and Rastau. The three are imported by Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant in Berkeley, California.
What is occuring in the Rhone Valley is obvious. Better vineyard grapes are ending up in the higher end blends of Cotes du Rhone and importers are having wines bottled at the price point, not the quality level to satisfy the USA's marketplace. The same thing happened to Chianti from Italy, and the lower end suffered, while the mid price and up markets grew.
Another factor missed is the valuation of the dollar to the Euro. With the 2o percent or so difference, and a 15 percent increase in costs for wines that hit most importers in 2005 it became harder to keep the quality at the same prices that we had seen for years. This increase came about to help buffer the impact of a dreadful 2002 vintage in the Rhone overall.
Bottom line, there are some excellent 2003s and 2004s, but at higher prices.
I've not had the same experience, and having tasted many of the 2003 and 2004 Cotes du Rhones back during the Decoverez du Rhone event in March 2005 find their comments somewhat disturbing, not by what they said, because I tend to agree, but because there are better wines out there.
Either the wines I tasted never made it to the USA, or the wines that they found and reviewed were more of the low end wines. My guess is the wines they found were more supermarket grade wines or doctored blends made for some USA importers who like to see wines at a price point, so they simply arrange to have winemakers bottle generic wine and put a label on it that says Cotes du Rhone. That said, I do agree with the chart they listed of the better wines.
There are some others that are as good or better. For starters the new 2004 Chateau du Trignon is solid, as are its two Cotes du Rhone Village offerings including the Sablet and Rastau. The three are imported by Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant in Berkeley, California.
What is occuring in the Rhone Valley is obvious. Better vineyard grapes are ending up in the higher end blends of Cotes du Rhone and importers are having wines bottled at the price point, not the quality level to satisfy the USA's marketplace. The same thing happened to Chianti from Italy, and the lower end suffered, while the mid price and up markets grew.
Another factor missed is the valuation of the dollar to the Euro. With the 2o percent or so difference, and a 15 percent increase in costs for wines that hit most importers in 2005 it became harder to keep the quality at the same prices that we had seen for years. This increase came about to help buffer the impact of a dreadful 2002 vintage in the Rhone overall.
Bottom line, there are some excellent 2003s and 2004s, but at higher prices.
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