Last year, Decanter asked me to imagine the perfect trip to the Rhône Valley, including the very best winemakers, the finest restaurants, and a smattering of other fun visits and sights. So I put it down on paper – and they turned it into reality for a group of readers. It was a great success, so we’ve decided to do it again this year! I’ll meet you in Lyon, and we’ll work our way down the Rhône, stopping off at producers including Pierre Jean Villa, Domaine Alain Voge and Chapoutier in the north; Clos du Caillou, Domaine Montirius and Domaine des Bosquets in the south. Needless to say we’ll ..read more

Interview with Jean-Louis Grippat at his home in Tournon, 20th March 2020. Edited for clarity and brevity. Can you tell me a bit about the history of your estate? I took over from my parents. My father died when I was relatively young. But the domaine continued; my mother carried on with a member of staff, and after my studies I joined her in 1956. There were still some fruit trees but I specialised in wine. I had parcels in Saint-Joseph and Hermitage. Very little Hermitage, a hectare and a half in Les Murets. Mostly white, I had very little red. And 6ha in Saint-Joseph; the lieu-dit Saint-Jo ..read more

Philippe Cambie, photo from his Facebook page   Philippe Cambie, who sadly died on 28th December 2021, spent his life working in wine and was the best-known winemaking consultant in the Rhône, having worked at ICV Groupe since 1998. He lived in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and worked with some of the biggest names in the appellation. He also co-owned Domaine Calendal in Plan de Dieu with Gilles Ferran of Domaine des Escaravailles. The following is an interview I conducted with him on 21st May 2020 via Zoom, and is edited for clarity and brevity. Rest in peace, Philippe. Have you noticed a change i ..read more

Interview with Elodie Balme via Zoom 5th June 2020. Edited for clarity and brevity. How did you find yourself working in wine? I was born into it; my parents took their grapes to the cave co-operative. I always knew I wanted to work in wine, but I didn’t see myself only working in the vineyard for my whole life, so I studied the commercial side of wine for 2 years after the BAC, then I did a diploma in winemaking. After that we decided to build a small winery, to work on 3 or 4 hectares, and to continue with the cave co-operative at the same time. So the vineyards that you work today, they ar ..read more

Interview with Denis Alary at Domaine Alary, Cairanne 10th June 2019. Edited for clarity and brevity.   Tell me how you went about promoting Cairanne from named village to cru. We had to make a delimitation of the growing area, and put together a cahier des charges that reflected our history and an idea of how we made wine. We made the decision in 2006. In 2007 we put together our dossier. It took a year and half, we did it all ourselves. We put together a number of working groups with 7 or 8 people in each: History, Technical, Terroir, Wine, all to characterise our appellation. We prese ..read more

I’ve recently returned from my annual en primeur tasting visit to the Rhône, assessing the new vintage for my yearly in-depth report for Decanter. It’s my favourite trip of the year, as it takes in the whole of the Rhône Valley, and I get to catch up with some of the best winemakers in their respective appellations. I often think how much I’d love to share these experiences with other Rhône-lovers – and now I can! Decanter’s first foray into wine travel experiences is a week in the Rhône with me as your guide this summer, from the 12th to the 19th June. Care to join us? Decanter asked me to n ..read more

Interview with Pierre Clape, 9th March 2020 at Domaine Clape. Edited for clarity and brevity. The history of Cornas is less well known than that of Côte-Rôtie or Hermitage, why is that? I think because it’s less well documented, we just don’t have that many documents. The first we have that mentions Cornas is from the 1760s, a village priest writes that when he arrived in the village, the whole hillside was planted with vines, and it gave ‘a very good black wine’! And we’re on an ancient Roman road here with a few Roman villas along the way. People have found relics, but nothing that points s ..read more

  Interview with Michèle Aubéry-Laurent and Maxime-François Laurent at Domaine Gramenon, 7th February 2020 at Domaine Gramenon. Edited for clarity and brevity. How would you describe your wines? Are they Natural wines, or is that the wrong term? Michèle: The problem at the moment is lots of people are making Natural wines, but not in the same way. So let’s talk about our definition. We started with organic viticulture a very long time ago, from the start, 40 years ago. Then there’s the fact that we make wine without additives, except a small amount of sulfites – after the malo, only if n ..read more

Selected excerpts from an interview with Louis Barruol of Château de Saint-Cosme 2nd September 2019 How has the 2019 vintage been? We’re in a hot year, very dry, and that never makes the best vintages… But it could be a year like 1988, a year like that with a small harvest when the wines have – after ageing – become extraordinary. A vintage for collectors perhaps? For people that drink Gigondas wines as they should be drunk. Drinking Saint-Cosme before 9 or 10 years of ageing, it doesn’t make much sense. I don’t work for people that want to drink wines from the get-go, I work for my terroirs ..read more

Interview with Christine Vernay 5th March 2020 at Domaine Georges Vernay Edited for clarity and brevity How would you describe a Condrieu to someone who has never tasted one? Viognier is an aromatic variety by definition. In Condrieu, this aromatic side is much less exuberant, much less pronounced. There’s a complexity compared to Viogniers from other parts of France or abroad, which display more of this exuberant side. To describe a fairly classic Condrieu, on the nose you’ll find strong apricot notes, white peach, stone fruit and white flowers. On the palate, you find these apricot and whit ..read more