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Forbes
14-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
New Vintages Of Vidal Fleury's Top Wines In The Rhône Valley
Vineyards on the Cote-Rotie hill in the northern Rhone valley, copyright BKWine Photography BKWine Photography Vidal Fleury is the northern Rhône Valley's oldest producer still in operation. The house makes some excellent wines from syrah, the only red grape variety permitted in the region, and the three whites, viognier, marsanne and roussanne. Vidal Fleury was founded in 1781 in Ampuis, a small town in the heart of the Côte Rôtie and Condrieu appellations. Some of the Rhône Valley's most prestigious wines are made here. Over the years, Vidal Fleury has expanded its operations and now makes wines from the entire Rhône Valley, including the southern part. A few years ago, I tasted the producer's many wines alongside Antoine Dupré, the managing director, who is also an oenologist. Read my detailed presentation of Vidal Fleury from this encounter here: An Impressive Range Of Wines From The Rhône Valley, From Maison Vidal-Fleury. I recently met Antoine Dupré again and tasted new vintages of Vidal Fleury's wines from the Northern Rhône Valley. Antoine emphasises that he is careful to bring out freshness in the wines. It is essential for him to reduce the impact of the oak barrels on the wine; to use a smaller proportion of new barrels, let the wines remain in the barrels for a shorter time, and possibly use larger formats. The length can vary depending on the vintage, to prevent the fruit from drying out. "We are looking for elegance and lightness in our wines, not the muscular style," he says. Antoine Dupré, general manager of Vidal-Fleury in the Rhone Valley, copyright BKWine Photography BKWine Photography Vidal-Fleury has been producing its top wine, La Chatillonne, since 1781, the only one it has made since the beginning. 'We have always had this vineyard,' says Antoine. There are never many bottles of La Chatillonne, a maximum of 4,000. The wine comes from vines that grow in the northern part of the Côte Blonde with a soil of gneiss and clay. It is a special soil where the grapes ripen late but exceptionally well. Antoine says it is a 'sunny vineyard with a terroir that gives freshness'. Syrah is blended with 12% Viognier. The wine is not muscular; it is relatively light in style, yet boasts great complexity in its aromas and a richness on the palate. Here, you can feel the warmth and spices that are typical of the region's wines. The barrel ageing is discreet and its impact stays in the background. 2019 was 'a perfect year with no blockage of the maturation,' says Antoine. La Chatillonne, Cote Rotie, Vidal Fleury, Rhone Valley, copyright BKWine Photography BKWine Photography 2018 was another excellent vintage. It began with a rainy spring and a cold spell in April and May. Then came a hot and dry summer. The grapes ripened properly. A light rain in early September was welcome for the sake of balance. Here we have the lovely, elegant, and slightly light style again. A classic and well-balanced Côte Rôtie, very good to drink now, savoury with blackcurrant and exotic spices in the aromas. Long taste. (~90 euro/$102) A good alternative to La Chatillonne is Vidal-Fleury's Côte Rôtie Brune & Blonde, which blends grapes from the appellation's different soil types. Here, the wine comes from vineyard plots in both the northern and southern parts of the appellation and thus gives a good picture of the entire Côte Rôtie appellation (which is small, only 300 hectares/740 acres). The steeply sloping terraces face due south. 2021 was a cool and challenging year, and here they have chosen to blend syrah with only 5% Viognier. The flowering was delayed, and the summer was not particularly hot, but the sun managed to give the grapes enough sugar and aromas, and in the end, it was an excellent vintage. As often occurs in slightly cooler years, the typical syrah aromas are evident, and so they are here too. This is a wine that all Syrah lovers will be happy with. No problem drinking a 2021 now, but it will age nicely as well. (~55 euro/$62) Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde de Vidal Fleury, Rhone Valley, copyright BKWine Photography BKWine Photography Condrieu is a small appellation of only 200 hectares (495 acres), but it has achieved great international fame. The grape is 100% viognier, and for a long time, it was only found here in the northern Rhône Valley. Now it has spread further south in France and to other countries. However, in Condrieu, the grape achieves an expression that is difficult to replicate elsewhere. For its Condrieu, Vidal-Fleury only allows 30% of the must to ferment in new oak barrels, while the rest ferments in steel tanks. The wine then remains in its respective barrels or steel tanks for 14 months. This way, the freshness is not masked, and the wine gets a good structure. As is often the case with viognier, aromas of ripe yellow fruit, apricot and ripe melons dominate. You can feel the sweetness of this ripe fruit in the richness of the palate. The acidity is not so prominent, but the wine has a certain vibrancy that I like. A delicious wine with a lot of body and a lovely mouthfeel. (~35 euro/$40) White wines from Vidal Fleury, Crozes-Hermitage, Saint Joseph, Condrieu, Rhone Valley, copyright BKWine Photography BKWine Photography From the top of the legendary Hermitage Hill, you have a splendid view of the Rhône River, the steep wine slopes and the two twin towns of Tain l'Hermitage and Tournon, on either side of the river. Hermitages are often powerful and well-structured wines, and so is this 2022 vintage from Vidal-Fleury, where I also find a savoury pepperiness. The wine can be drunk with pleasure already now with a good piece of meat - the tannins are not at all in the way - or aged for many years. (45 euros) The summer of 2022 was very dry, but a bit of rain in mid-August provided the water needed to produce fine grapes, bursting with sugar and aromas. From Vidal Fleury, look also for more excellent wines from the northern Rhône: And the whites: —Britt Karlsson Read more on the Rhône Valley on Forbes:
Telegraph
13-06-2025
- Telegraph
A wine-lover's guide to the magical (and affordable) white wines of the southern Rhône
Only one type of wine has ever been described to me as something that is loved by more people the cheaper it gets. Could this be a blessing? A curse? A Holy Grail? Of course, it is more like a half-truth. I'm talking about Rhône whites and the catch is that the wines vary tremendously in style and scope. You've got Condrieu, the heady, all-viognier appellation that I would argue stands outside this aphorism. Then there are the whites made from roussanne and marsanne in (mostly) the northern Rhône. These are majestic beasts: muscular and intense, with oak that smells expensive and prices that race into triple figures. Such wines are loved by collectors and Burgundy -heads – in my experience, though, they're an acquired taste. Then you've got the whites from the southern Rhône: approachable blends that give you, for a fraction of the price, a quality I love to find in a glass of wine: escapism. We're talking evocative, airy whites that smell of summer evenings in southern France. This isn't only my imagination. I'd just finished writing that when I opened an email from the wine writer (and Rhône guru) Matt Walls, who I had messaged to ask how he would persuade people who didn't know them to try these wines. He described the sensation in an uncannily similar way: 'Whites from the southern Rhône are all about generosity. They're rich in body and flavour, satin-textured, fresh but not acidic. They're Provençal in spirit, conjuring warm air and pine sap. You can almost hear the cicadas trilling when you open a bottle.' What is creating this magic? That can vary enormously, not just from sub-region to sub-region but also from producer to producer. We're talking blends. These might include a portion of those stately grapes found in the northern Rhône: marzipan-scented marsanne and powerful roussanne – and the more of these in the mix, the more weighty the wine is likely to taste. Other grapes bring freshness and subtlety: think viognier, with its haunting floral perfume; white grenache; and rolle (aka vermentino), which smells like dried meadow grass. In the mix, there might also be clairette, with its waxy white flower perfume, or bourboulenc, which has a gentle spice. Wines with a large portion of white grenache can feel both rounded and weightless, like the delicious Vacqueyras Blanc (sadly not available in the UK) I tasted from the Bungener family's Clos de Caveau. Others, like the partially barrel-fermented Château de Saint Cosme Les Deux Albion 2023, France (13%, Cambridge Wine, £21.50), are more sleek and weighty. The best way to find your way around southern Rhône whites is by trial and error. Start with Côtes du Rhône and Costières de Nîmes; look to Ventoux for freshness and value; to Gigondas Blanc, a new white appellation authorised since 2023, for wines that are based on clairette (at least 70 per cent of the blend). Matt Walls adds, 'For powerful, opulent whites, try Châteauneuf-du-Pape. For lighter, zestier styles go to Luberon, Lirac or Laudun. Between the two, Vacqueyras and Cairanne combine richness with drinkability.' You can also look to Rhône-style blends beyond the Rhône: there are brilliant budget options from elsewhere in southern France – such as the white version of the famous Vieille Ferme (widely available, around £8.50) – and finer wines from further afield in Australia, the US and South Africa.
