Four Red Wines from the Rhone
  • Châteauneuf-du-Pape

 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the King of the Southern Rhone.  A heady mix of sun and stone, dark blood sweated from baked earth.  And the best of them constrained within a tannic corset, a framework to keep such pleasures in (respectable) check.

  • Domaine Font de Michelle

Wine:  Another Châteauneuf estate with a range of wines from Cotes du Rhone to individual villages, ie Lirac and Châteauneuf    Stockists:  Wine Society, Goedhuis

Why do I think of modesty?  Not in quality; certainly not.  Rather modesty in pricing and ego.  The wine does the talking here; year in, year out, just balance and digestibility.  No bold statements, just gentle persuasion.

  • Domaine Tempier

Wine:  Strictly not part of the Rhone but from Bandol a small appellation outside Marseille.  Produces white, a very fashionable rose and four types of red   Stockists: A & B Vintners

 If Grenache provides the flesh of the Southern Rhone and Syrah its visage, Mourvedre provides the spine.  A grape which wants its feet in the water and the sun on its back, it reaches its apogee in Bandol, beside the silvery sea.  And within Bandol, look no further than Domaine Tempier, credited by many with saving the appellation from acquisitive property developers.

  • Paul Jaboulet Aîne

Wine: A huge negociant with some of its own holdings. Sells wine from all over the Rhone but strongest in the North      Stockists: Majestic, Wine Society

Along with Chapoutier, one of the grand old names of the Rhone, as comfortably at home in the North as in the South.  Now owned by the Bordelais, will the wildness of the Rhone yield to the polish of the Médoc?  Opinion remains divided, as much to its likelihood as to the benefits of such a move.

All wines can be located via www.winesearcher.com