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RHONE VALLEY
– BLENDING –
appellations stipulate that Grenache must account for
40 to 50% of the varietal range, with Syrah and Mourvèdre
complementing the blends. The estate currently sells
250,000 bottles, including 80,000 bottles of generic Côtes
du Rhône, half in France, half for export to England and
the United States. The Plan de Dieu village-designated
appellation is a roaring success across all markets. The
wine is matured in old tuns bought by the cousins’
grandfather over 60 years ago, where the majority of their
wines are matured. “We only use second-use wine barrels
to mature Cairanne for 3 to 4 months to differentiate it
from the other wines. This produces light oaky notes that
preserve the fruit”, they explain.
CONSUMER TASTES HAVE CHANGED
At Domaine Martin, David and Eric Martin have noticed a
change in consumer habits. “Twenty years ago, consumers
were looking for tannic wines and would let them age.
Nowadays, they prefer wines that are not very mature
and fruit-driven. Because of urban storage facilities, not
everyone can let the wines improve with age”, comments
Éric Martin. In export markets, he is pleased to sell his Côtes
du Rhône Plan de Dieu in Kenya via an airline company.
He also claims that since the appellation was officially
recognised in 2004, its sales have grown incrementally.
Domaine des Arches near Nyons is a family farm that
has been growing a range of crops for six generations.
Ideally situated on the road to the Alps, between Vaisonla-Romaine
and Nyons, it farms 14 hectares of vines in
AOP Côtes du Rhône and sells 15,000 bottles locally.
The estate’s patriarch, Daniel Ravoux, explains that in
very hot years, which are increasingly frequent, the wines
have very generous alcohol levels and need to be matured
before being released for drinking. He remains convinced
that the wines are much better and much more enjoyable
when they are drunk at their peak. But consumers and
wine merchants alike are pressing him to produce earlydrinking
wines. As the family waits for its vines to be
classified as Côtes du Rhône Villages Nyons, there is one
major reason for it to rejoice, and that is the progress in
the quality of Rhone wines. And when you spare some
thought for the age-old style of the region’s wines, you
realise what a quantum leap has been achieved.
Eric Martin in his vineyards
The vineyards at Domaine des Arches on the land around
Mirabel-aux-Baronnies in the Provencal part of Drôme
WINTER 2021 GILBERT & GAILLARD - THE FRENCH EXPERTS ON WINE 35