Côte-Rôtie

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An overview of the individual appellations in the Rhône wine-growing region. Zoom A shows the appellations to the south of Avignon and Zoom B shows the wine-growing regions near Lyon . The Côte-Rotie appellation is shown in Zoom B.

The Côte-Rôtie is a small but famous wine-growing region in the northern part of the Rhône wine-growing region , the so-called Rhône septentrionale . The name means "roasted or roasted slopes" and vividly describes the sun-drenched, steeply terraced vineyards . The area of ​​the appellation covers 264 hectares of cultivation area in the three municipalities of Ampuis , Saint-Cyr-sur-Rhône and Tupin des Départements Rhône . In 2011, 10510 hectoliters of red wine were produced.

Soil and climate

The slopes of the Côte-Rôtie are geologically part of the Massif Central . The soil consists of gneiss or mica slate . Its weathering creates numerous fine cracks and crevices that allow the roots of the vines to penetrate deeply. The Côte-Rôtie today consists of three parts: the Tupin et Semons area in the south, the central area around Ampuis and Verenay and the northern section St-Cyr-Sur-Le-Rhone. Historically, the central area around Ampuis with the locations Côte Brune and Côte Blonde is the best known. Both are only separated by a small watercourse. Legend has it that in the 16th century the feudal lord Maugiron divided his vineyard holdings between his two daughters, one of whom had blonde hair and the other was brunette. The real difference, however, lies in the soil : the Côte Blonde is sandy and slightly more calcareous, while the Côte Brune is more clayey and rich in iron minerals. The variety of soils affects the character of the wines. While the wine from the Côte Blonde is softer and more accessible, the Côte Brune produces stronger and longer-lasting wines. The familiarity of these two locations often leads to the entire area being divided into only two types of soil and the areas of Côte Brune and Côte Blonde. This is an oversimplification. The Côte Rôtie winegrowers' association distinguishes no fewer than 73 named areas. Within these locations there are sometimes named sub-areas (example La Turque as an area of ​​the Côte Brune), but superordinate location names are not shown. There is also a wide variety of different soil types. One of the most famous winemakers, René Rostaing, distinguishes more than thirty in the area of ​​the Côte Rôtie. The climate of the northern Rhône valley is a mixture of continental and Mediterranean influences. Summers are hot and dry, only thunderstorms bring precipitation. The microclimate of the Côte-Rôtie has two peculiarities: Due to the course of the Rhone from northeast to southwest, it has a number of amphitheater-like locations facing south. A regular local north wind, the "bise", protects the vines from excessive heat. Overall, the microclimate is a little cooler than that of the Hermitage further south .

Locations and wines

A Côte-Rôtie, Les Bécasses by M. Chapoutier

The red Côte-Rôtie is a powerful, multi-layered and very sustainable wine that only develops its rich bouquet of red fruits, spices and violets after a few years of cellar maturity. Due to the high tannin content of Syrah, it is highly astringent when young and therefore inaccessible. That is why it is usually necessary to mature in the bottle for a long time , in which the tannins polymerize with dye molecules, which reduces the astringency . Wines of great vintages can be kept for up to 20 years. A Côte-Rôtie is always with long mash prepares fermentation and traditionally aged in oak barrels. Sometimes new barriques are used.

Two grape varieties are permitted for the always red Côte-Rôtie: Syrah (minimum 80%) and the white Viognier (max. 20%). Since most winemakers have been fermenting the strongly tannic stems to a lesser extent since the second half of the 1980s, the importance of the mitigating Viognier has declined. The winemakers who cultivate Viognier rarely use more than 5% in their cuvees. In the single-layer Cuvees, Viognier is often completely absent (see also La Chatillone by Vidal-Fleury with 12% Viognier). The base yield is a relatively low 43 hl / ha.

The Côte-Rôtie is divided into numerous individual layers, only a few hectares in size . The Guigal company is the largest landowner and best-known producer on the Côte Rôtie. Most producers only produce one Côte-Rôtie as a cuvée of different plots. However, the most famous wines come from single vineyards:

AMPUIS

  • Cote Brune (La Turque de Guigal, Pavillion-Rouge)
  • Cote Blonde (La Mouline by Guigal, La Chatillonne, Le Clos)
  • La Landonne
  • Les Moutonnes

VERENAY

  • Les Grandes Places
  • La Viallière

The wine critic Robert Parker has given the Guigal wines La Landonne , La Turque and La Mouline the highest rating of 100 points in his wine rating several times . However, according to some wine connoisseurs, these wines do not correspond in their style to a typical or classic Côte-Rôtie wine, since only extremely ripe grapes are used and the wine is aged in new wood for up to four years (Livingstone-Learmonth, p. 103). Robert Parker also remarked E.g. for 2007 La Turque , it doesn't taste like it comes from the Côte Rôtie (Wine Advocate # 193 - Feb. 2011). The increasingly widespread turn to a wine style that is strong, fruit, wood and alcoholic and thus represents a departure from the classic Côte Rôtie style, which is often described as delicate and Burgundian, often leads to criticism. Last but not least, Parker's wine reviews have led to bottles of these wines e.g. B. from the 2001 vintage are traded between € 250 and well over € 300 / bottle. As with popular wines from other growing regions, each consumer has to decide for himself whether these prices are justified. The production quantities of 5,000-10,000 bottles per year do not justify the price, because the production figures and prices of other top producers are well below those of Guigal (e.g. Jamet "Cote Brune" 2000 bottles). The three wines, also known as "LaLaLas", are produced by Marcel Guigal in Ampuis, who is by far the largest producer on the Côte-Rôtie. More than 200,000 bottles of his standard cuvée “Côte Brune et Blonde” are produced each year. In 1995, Marcel Guigal acquired the Château d'Ampuis , which is now the company's headquarters, where the company's own wooden barrels are also made for the maturation of the wines. Under the name "Chateau d'Ampuis", a Côte-Rôtie is produced annually from different locations in an amount of approx. 25,000 bottles / year. The traditional trading house Vidal-Fleury, acquired in 1984 (35,000 bottles of Côte-Rôtie / year), is also part of the property . Other important producers of Côte-Rôtie are Gilles Barge, Bernard Burgaud, Maison Châpoutier, Yves Cuilleron, Jean-Michel Gerin, Bernard Levet, Michel Ogier, René Rostaing, as well as the Domaines Clusel-Roch, Jamet and Jasmin.

A legend and the most sought-after Côte Rôtie wines are those of Marius Gentaz-Dervieux, who died in 2011 and who brought out his last vintage in 1993, after which the vineyards went to his nephew René Rostaing. Wine lovers who enjoy these rare wines are full of enthusiasm for these classic Côte-Rôtie creations.

The best vintages of the past decades were 1978, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009 (average rating from six different reviews from critics, wine publications and traders: Robert Parker, Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, Enobytes, Decanter and Berry, Bros. & Rudd).

history

Côte-Rôtie vineyards near Vienne

The Côte-Rôtie is one of the oldest wine-growing regions in France. The wines of the ancient city of Vienne were famous in ancient times. The Roman poet Martial praised their exceptional quality. The wines of the Côte-Rôtie always kept their reputation, but were always overshadowed by Hermitage . In 1787 Thomas Jefferson , who was then the American ambassador to France, visited the region and had a few cases of bottled wine sent to Paris for him .

Viticulture on the slopes, which were difficult to work on, was only endangered by the phylloxera crisis in the 19th century, the First World War and the Great Depression in 1929. Excellent locations were also given up due to a lack of profitability. On October 18, 1940, the Côte-Rôtie received the status of an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée . That too did not give a boost to viticulture, which was weakened by the various crises mentioned above. In 1949 a liter of Cote-Rotie was sold for 1 franc / liter. Many winemakers could only survive by growing fruit or doing part-time jobs. In 1960 a total of 700 hectoliters of wine were produced. Until the 1970s, nothing changed about the precarious situation of viticulture on the Côte-Rôtie. Only a few winemakers bottled their own wine, most of them sold their wine to dealers. The excellent Rhone vintage 1978 was the starting shot for the renaissance of Rhône wines. Accompanied by the first edition of Livingstone-Learmonth's book and positive comments from influential wine importers such as Robin Yapp (England) and Kermit Lynch (USA), the attention of the wine world began to turn to this long-neglected region. Controversial today is the extension of the appellation that took place in 1966 and integrated the areas of Verenay and St. Cyr-Sur-Rhone into the area. Critics also complain that plateau areas above the steep slopes of the Côte Rôtie have been approved for viticulture. In their opinion, many of the new locations are not suitable for producing such a high quality wine as a Côte Rôtie and fear negative effects on the reputation of the wine region. At the beginning of the 1960s the area under cultivation was only 50 hectares, now it is over 200 hectares and the trend is increasing.

literature

  • John Livingstone-Learmonth: The wines of the Northern Rhône . University of California Press, Ltd., 2005, ISBN 978-0-520-24433-7 .

Web links

swell

  1. ^ Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, from the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 2. Retrieved January 1, 2014 .

    "A league below Vienne, on the opposite side of the river, is Cote Rotie. It is a string of broken hills, extending a league on the river, from the village of Ampuis to the town of Condrieu. The soil is white, tinged a little, sometimes, with yellow, sometimes with red, stony, poor, and laid up in terraces. Those parts of the hills only, which look to the sun at mid-day, or the earlier hours of the afternoon, produce wines of the first quality. Seven hundred vines, three feet apart, yield a feuillette, which is about two and a half pièces, to the arpent. The best red wine is produced at the upper end, in the neighborhood of Ampuis; the best white, next to Condrieu. They sell of the first quality and last vintage, at one hundred and fifty livres the pièce, equal to twelve sous the bottle. Transportation to Paris is sixty livres, and the bottle four sous; so it may be delivered at Paris in bottles, at twenty sous. When old, it costs ten or eleven louis the pièce. There is a quality which keeps well, bears transportation, and cannot be drunk under four years. Another must be drunk at a year old. They are equal in flavor and price .. (after Letter LVII.to M.Guide, May 6, 1787 in "Memoranda Taken On A Journey From Paris 1787", section DAUPHINE. From St. Fond to Mornant. March 15, 16 , 17, 18. "

    - Thomas Jefferson