How many wines can you name that contain over 20 grape varieties? Here’s one: Château de Montfaucon’s Lirac, Vin de Monsieur le Baron. Having tasted every vintage back to 2007, I can state with certainty that it’s one of Lirac’s greatest red wines.

If this sounds like faint praise, it’s not meant to. Admittedly, Lirac doesn’t currently have the same cachet as Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but it’s just on the other side of the Rhône river and has some pockets of exceptional terroir. What’s more, while the greatest Châteauneuf might set you back £400 a bottle, you can find Vin de Monsieur le Baron for closer to £40.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for verticals of Vin de Monsieur le Baron and Vin de Madame la Comtesse

See the full verticals for Vin de Madame la Comtesse and Vin de Monsieur le Baron:

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Julien and Nadia d’Abrigeon stood before me like new parents: proud, exhausted, thrilled. Tasting with them in their rented cellar space, I shared their excitement for their new arrivals. It’s not often you get to taste the first vintage of a new domaine, especially not one so promising.

We’d just returned from visiting their vineyards in the village of Buisson. Not so long ago, this was an undesirable location. Cairanne and Rasteau inhabit the sun-warmed southern face of the Ventabren massif, whereas Buisson is located on its chilly northern slope. But today, cooler spots like this are beginning to come into their own.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for five Domaine d’Abrigeon wines

Matt Walls’ tasting notes and scores for five Domaine d’Abrigeon wines:

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In Bordeaux it’s not unusual to walk through echoey corridors stacked floor to ceiling with bottles of older wines. But the culture in the northern Rhône is different. Most producers will squirrel away a few cases for special occasions, but winemakers usually sell through an entire vintage rather than hold a proportion back.

It’s understandable. A Bordeaux estate is typically five times the size of a domaine in Côte-Rôtie. Older vignerons from around Ampuis still remember when selling their wine wasn’t as easy as it is today, or as rewarding. Holding stock back wasn’t financially viable for many.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the Domaine Burgaud Côte-Rôtie vintage vertical

Domaine Burgaud Côte-Rôtie 1988-2008:

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In the same way that a private domaine can support a family, a co-operative winery can support an entire village. So when the Cave de Cairanne was effectively declared bankrupt in 2014, a whole community of growers was left hanging from a thread.

‘Closing a co-op is like closing a church. It supports businesses, families, generations,’ says Denis Crespo. He’s an unlikely saviour, as his roots are in natural winemaking. But he provided the necessary electric shock to get the co-op’s heart pumping again. Today, it’s a model of large-scale, no-added-sulphite winemaking. But its recovery was far from guaranteed.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for five Cave de Cairanne wines

Matt Walls’ tasting notes and scores for five Cave de Cairanne wines

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Warhol. Turner. Dali. If I showed you some of their most famous works, could you identify the artist? Even for those who rarely visit art galleries, I suspect the answer would be yes.

Wine, however, is different. Could you reliably name great winemakers just by tasting their wines? Not impossible; but even for the most dedicated wine lover, not always easy.

Sure, there are some winemakers with a style that’s so distinctive that their wines are unmistakable. In this group, I’d include the wines of Emmanuel Reynaud of Château Rayas, Chateau Musar or Jacques Selosse.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 10 Domaine Garon wines

10 top picks from Domaine Garon:

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Which offers more pleasure: a wine from a great vintage, but too young, inexpressive and closed? Or a wine from a modest vintage that’s mature, aromatically open and ready to drink? Surely there’s no contest.

When it comes to enjoying the greatest Rhône wines, identifying the best vintages is the easy part. Knowing when best to open them is more difficult – but arguably more important.

Here are four vintages that will benefit from further ageing, and four that you should consider drinking up.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for four Rhône wines to lay down and four to drink now

To lay down or drink up?

The wines below are listed by their vintage, in the same order as above.

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‘Faced with extreme, repeated and cumulative climatic hazards, how can we best support and adapt our vineyard? Considering these changes, how can the balance of wines be preserved?’ Like many winemakers, Ambre Delorme of Domaine de la Mordorée is embracing 2023 with hope, but also a degree of trepidation.

With a chaotic climate and capricious consumers to contend with, Rhône winemakers are weighing up the best ways to move forward.

Here are three trends to look out for in 2023.

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I remember watching the London fireworks on television last New Year’s Eve. They were spectacular to watch, but where there would usually be throngs of spectators, the streets remained incongruously empty. Social distancing was still in force. It reminded me of my year’s wine drinking up to that point: some dazzling bottles, but often enjoyed without company – or via a screen.

As 2022 began, the Covid-19 pandemic gradually relaxed its grip and many of us hurried back to everyday life. The usual whirlwind of events and tastings that had stalled two years earlier started up once again. And we were as keen to taste winemakers’ wares as they were to pour them. After two years of limitation and loss, many of us were living for the moment.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Matt Walls’ top wines of 2022

Matt’s top wines of 2022:

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Severe frost in early April wreaked havoc across both the northern and southern appellations of the Rhône Valley in 2021, with many producers losing a large majority of their crop.

The reds that did materialise tend towards lean, green flavours, because grapes struggled to ripen. A few producers struck lucky, with late-budding varieties or pockets of vineyard less affected by frost.

But overall, it is the whites that really shine, showing freshness, precision and longevity.

St-Joseph, Vacqueyras and Beaumes de Venise offer particularly good value this year.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Matt Walls’ best value Rhône 2021 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2021 tasting notes and scores

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The best value Rhône 2021 wines to seek out:

Wines listed northern then southern Rhône, by colour and score.

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‘The style of 2021 is light, lean and fresh, with high acidity, low alcohol and strict tannins…but for many producers making red wines, 2021 will be a year best forgotten. For white wines, the opposite is true.’

If the southern Rhône had a tough year in 2021, the northern Rhône had it even worse. When talking to growers, one word that came up time and time again was ‘exhausting’. On paper, this was a disastrous vintage, but it was worth fighting for – some producers pulled excellent wines out of their hats. Not many, but some.

Top-scoring northern Rhône 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 95 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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Clément Bärtschi, winemaker and cellarmaster at M Chapoutier, saw little frost in St-Joseph in 2021. Nevertheless, the cool, wet season resulted in oscillating quality.

Some wines are excellent, in a fresh, crisp and fragrant style; but the larger proportion lack fruit and joy, with dry, astringent tannins. ‘We’d have called it a lovely vintage – in the 1980s,’ said Jean Gonon of Domaine Gonon.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring St-Joseph 2021 wines

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Matt Walls’ top-scoring St-Joseph 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 93 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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This was the first year that Pierre Clape, of Domaine Clape, had witnessed frost on the slopes of Cornas; from these parcels he lost 40% of his crop.

On the flat, however, it was much worse – here he lost 90%. Like almost everybody else, he had to raise alcohol levels – here by adding concentrated must – to achieve 12% alcohol. The last time they had to do this was in 2008.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Cornas & St-Péray 2021 wines

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Matt Walls’ top-scoring Cornas & St-Péray 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 93 points or above, and are listed in order of St-Péray and Cornas in score order.

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Is frost a bad thing? Yes; but it can have unexpected benefits. It can kill shoots, reducing yields, but it doesn’t necessarily affect quality.

In cooler growing seasons, vines with fewer bunches can find it easier to ripen them. So given the inclement conditions that followed the frost in 2021, optimists might consider it advantageous that the crop load had been lightened.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu 2021 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2021 tasting notes and scores

See the Rhône 2021 full vintage report and top scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 95 points or above, and are listed Condrieu then Côte-Rôtie in score order.

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When the northern Rhône faces a difficult vintage, it’s often Crozes-Hermitage that bears the brunt, which was the case in 2021.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Crozes-Hermitage 2021 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2021 tasting notes and scores

See the Rhône 2021 full vintage report and top scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Crozes-Hermitage 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 89 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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Hermitage was mercifully spared by the frost in 2021, however with elevated rainfall dilution was still a major issue.

‘It was the great terroirs that made good wines in 2021,’ said Jean-Louis Chave of Domaine JL Chave, ‘you needed slopes and old vines.’ This helped to avoid dilution, because rain runs off the slopes.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Hermitage 2021 wines

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Matt Walls’ top-scoring Hermitage 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 93 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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Vacqueyras

Vacqueyras is low-lying and mostly flat, and it was hit hard by the frost in 2021. Yields were down around 25%.

Vineyards on slopes and near woodland were more likely to be spared, and those that were lucky went on to make precise, fresh, well-balanced reds. Most, however, are light and drinkable, destined to be drunk young.

White varieties largely avoided the frost, and the quality is excellent – concentrated wines with impact, acidity and great balance.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and score for top Gigondas, Vacqueyras & Beaumes de Venise 2021 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2021 tasting notes and scores

See the Rhône 2021 full vintage report and top scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Gigondas, Vacqueyras & Beaumes de Venise 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 93 points or above, and are listed in order of Gigondas, Vacqueyras and Beaumes de Venise, white then red in score order.

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Vinsobres

Though it often sits in the shadow of Cairanne and Rasteau, Vinsobres performed relatively well this year, and many of the wines have a good sense of freshness.

The characteristic angular tannins are quite marked, however, so give them a year or two, which will also help to further integrate any new oak, which has frequently been applied liberally here.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and score for top Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres 2021 wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 92 points or above, and are listed in order of Rasteau, Cairanne and Vinsobres, white then red in score order.

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It was difficult to find many Liracs to recommend this year; they seemed to be hit particularly hard by the challenges of 2021, producing wines with thin red fruit and coarse tannins.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and score for top Lirac and Tavel 2021 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2021 tasting notes and scores

See the Rhône 2021 full vintage report and top scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Lirac and Tavel 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 90 points or above, and are listed in order of appellation, white then red in score order.

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‘In this chaotic, unpredictable and atypical vintage, buying by appellation, or even producer, isn’t a reliable strategy.’

Though Châteauneuf-du-Pape wasn’t the worst hit, many producers, such as Vincent Avril of Clos des Papes, suffered reduced yields due to the frost. Temperatures dropped to -4 ̊ C here, but ‘what was mad is that it was 19 ̊C that afternoon,’ he said, ‘and 25 ̊C less than a week earlier.’ No wonder the vines were shocked.

Top-scoring southern Rhône 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 95 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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Châteauneuf-du-Pape wasn’t hit as hard as some appellations, thanks in part to its proximity to the Rhône river, and its openness to the mistral wind. Nevertheless, volumes are down by about 20%.

In some ways this feels like an old-fashioned vintage; measured alcohol, good acidity, strict tannins, and – when sufficiently ripe – this can make for an enjoyably fresh and balanced style.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2021 wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 96 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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