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Go attach! The vines need tying up as they grow. The Barge team at Côte-Rôtie.

July 2009 News: growers up and down the Rhône tell me that the growing season is going well, smoothly, and that harvest dates at this juncture look like being on the early side. They have had none of the drip-drip weather that led to widespread mildew in 2008, and are as hopeful as they can be before the all-important months of July and August. As it has in Britain, the weather in June in the Rhône has been hot, but water reserves are fuller than they have been for a few years - so, touch wood, things are looking promising. The good feeling about the 2009 vintage continues.

June was sad in that Châteauneuf-du-Pape lost one of its most senior figures, Paul Avril of the Clos des Papes - see Goings-On for my little obituary on Paul, an outstanding ambassador for the region, and a charming man of poise and intellect. Alsace also lost its great ambassador, the ebullient Jean or Johnny Hugel. With officialdom and big business systems stifling more and more of the characters of the wine trade, these are the sort of people who nowadays stand out for their drive and enterprise, both Avril and Hugel men who represented "lesser" regions of France thirty-five years ago when I first met them. It is fitting to think that now neither region is in any way "lesser".

Recently posted items include domaines from Cairanne, Costières de Nimes, Rasteau, Roaix, Signargues and Ventoux - see under those appellations. In constant renewal are the central drinkrhone categories of STGT and w.o.w. - Soil to Glass Transfer wines and what one wants wines. Refer to these (date tasted in right hand column is a good indicator of recent activity) for natural, terroir wines or easy drinking, free-flowing wines. A cross-section of 2006 and 2007 wines from Vinsobres have been entered, while the next project is the full report on the 2007 northern Rhône. For the full list of domaines recently posted, see Goings-On.

June 2009 News: les anciens will be sitting round the camp fire, mumbling about how the weather they anticipated a good while ago has come to pass - heat, sun, abundance. I hope they have handy supplies of rosé handy, but I expect their dish is more a Syrah or Grenache-inspired red. Having just celebrated two major and marvellous events, the Yapp 40th anniversary of their existence as the leading Rhône and Loire wine merchant in GB, and the Tim Johnston (Juveniles, Paris, famous for many a good bark at annoying people or regions near the Gironde, including the ejection of the Mondovino team onto the trottoir outside Juveniles, an event written up, no less, in the stately Revue de Vin de France) ?40th birthday luncheon - GOODNESS, this is a long sentence, but the home straight is in sight - I can testify to the refreshing qualities of the 2007 Tavel rosé La Forcadière from Domaine Maby (http://www.yapp.co.uk/) and the utterly delightful 2008 Château de Roquefort Côtes de Provence Corail rosé from the excellent biodynamic estate of Raimond de Villeneuve near La Ciotat, south of Marseille (http://www.leaandsandeman.co.uk/).

I have posted a review of 2008 Tavels under Recent Tastings. I find 2008 a really great rosé vintage from the Southern Rhône and Provence, providing the grower has been realistic and not pushed for too much extraction. There is no need for many of these wines to exceed 13 degrees, in which case the best are gorgeous to drink outdoors - great for the aperitif, picnics, barbecues and so on. Ship `em in, I say. There is also a recently posted full report on the 2007 Northern Rhônes. I am still grounded after knee trouble, so the dinners in the Rhône have been held over until 2010. Note that a few 2008 vat sample tasting notes are appearing after domaine visits made between December 2008 and March 2009. A full list of recent domaine additions is under the Goings-On tab in the left-hand margin.

May 2009 News: some optimism is appearing about the 2008 vintage, notably in Bordeaux. The Rhône is mercifully spared the annual fiasco of pubescent wines being assessed by the great and the good when some of the wines have not even finished their malolactic fermentation - or if they have, they may well have been in heated cellars to get to that stage. Nor have final blends been decided upon. It is interesting that the wines flying off broker`s lists in London are the Premier Grand Crus, plus the usual Lynch Bages, Léoville Barton very reliable wines. The Merlot wines of the Right Bank are also starting to hot up.

I have posted the notes from a Chapoutier 2008 tasting held in London at the end of April in the next days. See Recent Tastings. This was all the parcellaire or single plot wines, the reds 100% Syrah, the whites 100% Marsanne. I would always prefer to taste in the cellar of the grower rather than from a sample shipped away from its region, but the results were quietly encouraging, with terroir coming through in some instances from this cool vintage: a really hot year like 2003 of course suppressed terroir in its first years. Here and there on the site are a few 2008 notes from the odd vat of Grenache or Syrah that I have included for interest`s sake, rather than a formal assessment.

Recent additions: a full report on 2006 Northern Rhône has been posted, and a host of Northern Rhône domaines from the last 5 months - see Recent Additions in Goings-On. Also, the top 4 2005 Côte-Rôtie wines from Guigal, which were bottled at the end of January, tasted in mid-March in Ampuis. Also, the latest from Domaines Bernard and the organic, counter culture Jean-Michel Stéphan at Côte-Rôtie - both have vineyards mainly in the southern sector there. The Domaine Guy Farge at Saint-Joseph has also been added - Guy being an ex-Co-operateur (Tain) who now makes Saint-Joseph from good vineyards at St-Jean-de-Muzols and also Cornas (allez!)

I note that the Meteorological Office in England is now forecasting a long, hot summer, something this website was on about at least two months ago. Listen to les anciens, the veterans, and get out more is my comment to them.

April 2009 News: 2008 has performed in a usual Rhône way - providing good whites and likeable rosés, the latter less heady than recent vintages. Thus the aperitif can be drawn from Tavel and neighbour Lirac, or from some of the enterprising Côtes du Rhône domaines which take trouble over their rosés. Notes on Tavel will be posted in the next weeks. See Goings-On for news of an award given to me by the growers of Vinsobres last month.

The third week of April 2009 was the stage for the Decanter World Wine Awards, which involved a large amount of tasting over four days in London. This year there were more Rhône entries for the Decanter event than ever before this year, and the number of gold medals given doubled from last year`s tally of two to four. Their identities will be revealed in due course - I do not know yet who made them since the wines were all tasted, and re-tasted blind. There was one 2008 white, and three 2007 reds. 

Recent additions to the Northern Rhône feature three new domaines of good quality each one: the saucily-named SCEA La Tache at Saint-Joseph, Christophe Curtat at Saint-Joseph - both in the prime southern zone of that straggling appellation - and at Crozes-Hermitage Domaine Saint Clair, of Denis Basset. Please also keep checking the STGT and w.o.w. categories as tasting notes on 2007 are being fed in. Notice that Crozes 2007 from good domaines looks like delivering really friendly fruit, classic for w.o.w. However, there are a lot of got-up wines as well from Crozes. Also check out the rock solid qualities of the Domaine Durand at Saint-Joseph (and Cornas), and the Domaine Belle at Crozes-Hermitage (and Hermitage). 

Also recently included has been a vast array of Chapoutier wines, also those from their offshoot Ferraton (both listed under Hermitage), Marc Sorrel from Hermitage, and from Crozes-Hermitage, Alain Graillot, with a first look at his 2008s, as well as the wines of his son Maxime, at his Domaine des Lises - a name to remember.

Cornas (Cheval) News: our Cheval Mascot ran on Saturday 4 April at Aintree, near Liverpool, in a 2 mile novice chase event that preceded the world famous Grand National race. He finished fourth in this championship race, and was bang there until the winner quickened away to win by 12 lengths - presumably it is a Bessards/Méal style beast, that Kalahari King, while Cornas is, well Cornas - honest virtues and a real trier. He is off on his summer holidays now, with some lush turf to pick at. Repose-toi bien, Cornas.

He had been skipping around at his home in Devon, and clearly likes the spring weather that Britain has recently enjoyed. Fingers are crossed, but once again he crosses swords with the best beasts around - a reprise of his race at Cheltenham last month, when he finished seventh after slipping on landing two fences from home. The flat racecourse at Aintree will suit him a little better. Auguste Clape has not yet been informed of Cornas` next outing, but was in grand form when seen two weeks ago tasting with the crowd in Tain l`Hermitage. ALLEZ CORNAS !!!

End of March 2009 News: the bi-annual Découvertes en Vallée du Rhône event was its usual whirlwind of colourful people from around the world, and the gang of journalists that meets up every two years - notably from Belgium and Denmark - which results in late night assaults on STGT Montlouis and other delights. Visitor numbers were down, unsurprisingly, but the audience was more professional and focused than in 2007. The USA and Canada were well represented, as were Belgium, Norway and Germany. British trade visitors were low in number, high in quality - Averys, Flint Wines, Berry Brothers - the last-named continuing to outpace most of the British traditional merchants through their commitment to the real Rhône of small domaines and good quality names that now include Beaucastel. London merchants that rely on Bordeaux have hard yards to catch up, especially after a less than star vintage in 2007.

The main focus was the 2007 vintage. The southern Rhône will be covered in detail in the coming weeks as I reside in England and scribble away. It will start with a bringing together of the Châteauneuf-du-Papes, red and white: many of these have now been tasted. Please also keep consulting the STGT and w.o.w. categories, where wines are being added all the time.

mid-March 2009 News: the bi-annual Découvertes en Vallée du Rhône event takes place from March 16-21. This is attended by wine importers, retailers, press and a few way out investigators - two years ago there was a VERY hearty bus of Slovakians who would all taste the same wine at the same moment, it appeared. Traffic problems ensued, and noise levels were high. Did they place many orders? I cannot say. It is that time again, and bookings will probably be down on 2007 - we will see. Reports will be posted the following week.

early-March 2009 News: having tasted over 400 Côtes du Rhône and Côtes du Rhône Villages reds in Avignon from 2006 and 2007, then 120 2006 Châteauneuf-du-Papes that have now been bottled, I need bread and water, possible the dentist, and also the time to assemble the notes on-line. These tastings took me 7 consecutive days, given that I am not a locomotive, unlike some of the high profile scribbling brethren. I will be leading with the most prominent domaines from those vintages.

CORNAS, our Cheval Mascot News: "mid-division, hampered 3rd, headway on outer approaching 3 out, close 3rd and going well when stumbled 2 out, ridden before last, weakened flat". The Form Book does not lie. Cornas, in the top race of the year for his group of young horses over 2 miles, performed with pulsating quality on March 10 at Cheltenham. He came cruising down the hill on the outside, the jockey sitting motionless, and hearts started to quicken. At the second last fence, a downhill obstacle, he made a good jump but slipped on landing, and in the words of his jockey Daryl Jacob "lost his momentum and about 3 lengths - otherwise we would have been fourth." Thus he was 7th, but I can say that he did what good Cornas wine should do - showed guts and a willing attitude, with no affectation (ie new oak). VIVE, CORNAS!!!

Previously: Cornas the Cheval Mascot, has his big, high-profile day on Tuesday 10 March at Cheltenham in the second race, the 2.05, called the Arkle Chase, over 2 miles - named after Ireland`s champion, the greatest horse I ever saw, when I was a callow youth in 1965. He is a 50/1 shot, in a field of 18 runners. He will run well, although a slight foot problem last week took a day or two to clear up. He should not be 50/1, and if all went well, he could finish in the first six. The place odds for him coming in the first three are around 10-12/1. I will be ringside for this race. ALLEZ CORNAS!!!

The end of February heralded the first inkling of spring in the southern Rhône, and by the first week of March, the almonds and mimosas were adding a bit of welcome colour to the landscape. The last of the pruners were also out and about. The 2008s are settling down, and will be reviewed for the first time since December in mid-March when I return to the Rhône, both north and south. With an anti-cyclone situated over the Azores for around 10 days, it was a good time to be tasting - very stable days, cool nights, and healthy sunshine.

Cornas (cheval) News: Cornas, our website Mascot, has now run WITH GREAT DISTINCTION in the 3.20 Novices Chase at Sandown, the feature race on the card. He was beaten a measly neck into second place, after a mighty round of jumping, only inhibited by a slight mistake at the second last fence where he lost about 1+ lengths. Without that, he would have won. There is something rather wonderful about shouting "Go on, allez Cornas" at the television, while jumping around and making the animals take to the hills. The forecast paid over 50/1, so there are funds from this latest venture of our Mascot. Hats off to Nick Brookes and the team at VineTrail.

Previously . . Cornas runs in the 3.20 race at Sandown tomorrow, the 20 February. The race is over 2 miles, and there are 5 runners, of which he is the outsider - just like Cornas (le vin), always underrated! We will find out if he is good enough to compete in the big championship race at Cheltenham in March, the Arkle Chase. Fingers are crossed for a good performance. ALLEZ, CORNAS!

February 2009 News: snow has hit France, as well as coating England thanks to the Russian Steppe blowing in. For those who live in New York, there is an excellent production of Uncle Vanya on at the Stage Theatre Company on E 13th Street: Chekhov letting no-one off in his depiction of 1899 ennui, just 20 years before the Revolution. Maggie Gyllenhaal is captivating, the acting of Denis O`Hare and Peter Sarsgaard in the male suitor roles completely complementary. Meryl Streep was even in attendance, watching her daughter Mamie Gummer perform the role of the love-lorn Sofya. So much for Russia for now, but it`s that sort of day.

The mail has come in about the Paul Jaboulet Aîné article in Decanter, February 2009 - in support, I am both glad and sad to report. Amateurs of these wines from the past lament the moves being made, the result being a loss of personality. I hope that management take these comments as the prompt to sort things out, and to strive to better understand the region.

Being entered this month are 2007 tasting notes, led by Châteauneuf-du-Pape Domaines - see Goings-On for the full list. They are indeed wholesome, and a couple have even crept into the w.o.w. (what one wants) category, even if a little more expensive than usual for that.

This month is marked by a vast tasting of Côtes du Rhône reds in Avignon, as I seek out value for the current times. More on that from March, as I have two almost consecutive visits to the Rhône, the second being for the Découvertes week in mid-March.

Cornas (cheval) alert: I wish this bulletin had been written 2 days ago, since our Cheval Mascot triumphed in his first novice (young horses) steeplechase over 2 miles at Ludlow (the local racecourse for the very good Tanners Wines in Shrewsbury) on Thursday 15 January. He won by 5 lengths after making a mistake at the first fence, then took hold of the bit and wooshed away from ten rivals. His odds were 7/1, and the owners nibbled away at him enough to make the price fall from an early 14/1. Free wine from Vine Trail, folks. I had not one centime on - drat! I encourage Cornas drinking this weekend in sympathy.

January 2009 News: vinous highlights of Christmas-New Year came in the form of the 1990 Pol Roger and the 1978 Graves Château La Louvière blanc. 2 bottles of each, in each instance the last 2 bottles of a case bought at issue. The Pol Roger showed yet again just what a fantastic vintage 1990 is for Champagne - full of mousse still, with a honeyed complexity running through the most elegant of palates. Great length. The second bottle showed a fraction more age, with a Comté cheese note on the bouquet. Oh for a magnum, a Jereboam or a daughter born in 1990, not 1991, so I had more of the 1990s.

The Louvière shows my love for white Graves - ever since I was introduced to Château Haut-Brion blanc 1959 during an outdoors luncheon at Beaumanière Restaurant in Les Baux when it was in its finest 3 star pomp in 1973. Wham! Quelle finesse, what lingering scented delights. As a neighbour of Carbonnieux, La Louvière is in good white wine territory that has never really had full appreciation - not a bad thing for the value hounds. The 1978 La Louvière white is still fresh as a daisy, the colour a simple pale yellow, and a wine of remarkable staying power: decanted, it was still going without any concession to dryness or oxidation 24 hours later. The Sauvignon as the 75%+% senior partner showed through most of all, with a murmur of acidity at its heart, the Semillon aiding the finish and its breadth. Wonderful wine - when you open such "aulde friends" that have moved house with you several times and are still doing the business, wine becomes one of the greatest pleasures, and flashbacks to what was going on in the world and your own life come readily and picturesquely to mind. Often it is the unassuming wines, not the grandiose, that cast this spell.

Rhône highlights: from the Rhône, highlights were the still young and shapely 1999 Côte-Rôtie from Patrick Jasmin, the also young and compact 1998 Domaine de la Solitude Châteauneuf-du-Pape red, and above all, my little chou, my sweet friend, the 1990 Saint-Joseph red from Jean-Louis Grippat, my bon ami whom I bumped into, amid great emotion, at the Cornas Wine Marché in December, Jean-Louis having retired from his life as a vigneron when he sold his domaine and vineyards to Marcel Guigal in 2001. What a long, existential sentence that was - I must have been reading Donleavy in my sleep!

Best Value Wine: please also see Best Value Wines for a tremendous value white Laudun from Marks and Spencer in England, on sale at £4.49. Scroll down to the Southern Rhône section there.

Future visit: the later part of February heralds a visit to the Southern Rhône to taste an extensive series of Côtes du Rhônes and Villages, with the thought that value for money will be ever more important in 2009, and for the paupers in Britain with their battered economy and currency, vital. There is the usual gala set of 2007 Burgundy tastings in London during January, with people keen to see how the whites are performing. Certainly, that is likely to be a Burgundy vintage for the northern European palate, unlike the Southern Rhône, which is packed with sweet Grenache.

Tardieu-Laurent: the masters of oak, based in the pretty Lubéron village of Lourmarin, buy wines from old vine plots and raise them over a couple of years. A tasting of their range was held at their British importers, Corney & Barrow, in December 2008. See Tardieu-Laurent under their entry in the Cornas appellation.

Paul Jaboulet Ainé: added so far in January have been the tasting notes of my December 2008 visit to Paul Jaboulet Ainé. My recent article in the Decanter Magazine of February 2009 took around 9 months to write, since I was so vexed by the style of the wines emerging from the new management regime. I regard Jaboulet, the icon of my youth in the Rhône, as vital to the region`s heritage and well-being. Thus wines that do not come close to local expression are of great concern for the Rhône`s identity.

We are talking about the long view, and of integrity here. Does one let the house buyer purchase the Graded, Listed building, and knock it down? Do we, the consumers, want to drink Me-Too wines, expecting applause when we sagely extol their virtue of holding "the correct amount of blackberry"? Such talk is cheap. The successful campaign to stop the building of an apartment block on the vineyards of Cornas 12 months ago resulted in the Mayor of Cornas losing his seat, the groundswell of fuss from overseas playing a large part in that event, as recounted to me, with due thanks, by the NEW Mayor of Cornas in December, 2008.

Consequently I feel that my position on Jaboulet is important for the region. If all winewriters go round intoning that the new wines are better than the last ones, or that they have pretty fruit, they are only doing at most half their job. Historical context is vital in the most noble vineyards, so I for one am prepared to stand up and be counted on that, after 37 years covering the Rhône.

Other recent additions: also added to the roster of domaines in January and December have been the Domaine de La Guicharde at Massif d`Uchaux, the Domaine de Lucéna at Visan, and the Domaine des Pasquiers at Sablet, along with Domaine de Montvac at Vacqueyras; Domaine Jean David at Séguret - both interesting domaines, the latter STGT, organic wines. 2007s were assessed at Château de Beaucastel, a visit to Domaine Pontifical at Châteauneuf-du-Pape has been entered, and at Cornas, Vincent Paris` first vintage of La Geynale, the 2007 (I am in the group owning that vineyard) and his other young wines were tried, plus a tasting with Jacques Leminicier of his Cornas and Saint-Péray 2007 and 2006. Dec 2008 visits to Guigal, Vidal-Fleury and René Rostaing at Côte-Rôtie, André Perret and Domaine Georges Vernay at Condrieu (and Saint-Joseph) were also logged, as have June 2008 visits to Domaine La Fourmente and Domaine L`Orbieu at Visan.

mid-December 2008 News: a few hundred 2007 Northern Rhône reds and whites were tasted in early December, and there are certainly wines of some pedigree around in this vintage, which is less flashy than the Southern Rhône. Notes to be posted over the coming weeks. In both North and South, the 2008s I have tasted have been OK, as they say . . direct fruit, and more in the glass than the doomsayers (at least those who deem any poor year in Bordeaux equals a poor year everywhere else in France) have been muttering.

There was a foot of snow on 11 December, it lying for some days at 300 metres on the plateau above Côte-Rôtie: that made for very cold, dank cellars and nutters trying to overtake me on snow-bound roads. Water reserves in the Northern Rhône are now back to normal, the first time in several years, so perhaps 2009 starts out on a well-balanced footing. The Southern Rhône is still short by I would estimate around 20-30% of its "normal" water reserves.

Pricing is going to be a hot topic in 2009. With a good vintage in 2007 and a dodgy year in 2008, one would think that the growers will go all out with prices as high as the market will take on the 2007s. But we have an enormous slowdown, and galloping unemployment. Will 2008s be a lot cheaper? Well, they should be, but then the crop is down by at least 30%. So lowering prices on a greatly reduced crop is not easy to do, especially if the bank is breathing down your neck. Some high profile merchants have gone long on buying up large stocks of 2007 Côtes du Rhône reds, with a view to buying up very little of the 2008s, and hoping for a good vintage in 2009 to keep supply of that wine going.

In Britain, with its particularly enfeebled economy, the added bugbear is the weakness of sterling, collapsing against the Euro as I write. Duty increases from November only add to the gloom. This is the pragmatic Celtic-Anglo Saxon way of hitting merchants, as opposed to the Gallic one of banning internet comment on drinks and generally making people feel bad about working in the wine trade or growing vines.

Our cheval mascot, Cornas, raced twice in November, which was once too often, and "he was quiet when saddled" on the second occasion, despite his owner claiming he was a hardy New Zealand-bred. He finished 7th in that race at Ascot, by the way. Maybe Auguste Clape should feed him some oats and tell him to get a grip. His next destination is to jump larger obstacles after a rest over Christmas. Maybe some Yuletide Syrah in the bran mash . .?

Plans for the vineyard visit will be firming up in the next 2 months. The target date is likely to be towards the end of May 2009. Happy Christmas to readers in the meantime.

December 2008 News: Cornas kicks off the Northern Rhône village wine festivities. that occur every December. This is when the local growers have a chance to sell their recent wines to their nearby public, and a frequent sight is that of septuagenarians wheeling their diable trolleys ("diable" because of the two handles that stick out) laden with cases to people`s cars. I first attended the Cornas Marché aux Vins in 1973, when it was called the Festival of the Syrah and the Roussette. Those were long days, with post-midnight assembly in the cellar of Auguste Clape. I shall be back there again this year for the 2008 version, and then a series of 2007 tastings and domaine visits across all the Northern appellations.

The Cornas Fair is followed a week later by the Chavanay Wine Fair, with more of the Saint-Joseph, Côte-Rôtie and Condrieu vignerons present, that little bit nearer their homes.

2008 in the Southern Rhône has fared reasonably well: fruit without great stuffing around it has shown up at Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas and Vacqueyras. But the fruit is clear. Meanwhile, the 2007s there boom along, with bags of fruit and abundant sweet appeal. Some wines are facile, and lack tannic structure - these are not the wines of a Great Year. The best domaines seem to have that all-important tannin, are very good indeed, and can live well. 2007 notes will be fed in from mid-December, after my visit to the Northern Rhône that starts in this first week of December.

The cheval mascot, Cornas, has run twice since the last news was posted - 5th at Ascot, then 8th at Newbury, both in hot handicap hurdle races over 2 miles. I am a shade poorer after these two sorties, and have not yet heard from Nick Brookes of Vine Trail about the inside story. This month`s Allez Cornas! award therefore goes to the village before its Marché aux Vins.

I repeat the advice to see the Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2006 whites, listed under the sidebar 2006 Southern Rhône, and also to keep in touch with the STGT and w.o.w. categories - the latter invariably points to good value wines. Added recently has been the Perrin et Fils collection of Southern Rhône wines - an extremly strong line-up - and these are listed under Perrin et Fils in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation.

Mid-November 2008 News: CORNAS alert. Our cheval Mascot Cornas ran 4th in a good race at Sandown Park last week. His trainer, Nick Williams, is also a chartered accountant, like his wife. They train about 15 horses with great amounts of care and attention, no doubt the same way as they look at The Books. Cornas is now due to run at Ascot on Friday 21 November, in the 3.50 pm 2 mile Handicap Hurdle, and has a chance. I will be en route for Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but will be urging him on or flapping my wings in support. Nick Brookes of Vine Trail will be on the spot, and will relay post-race reports. ALLEZ CORNAS!

Note that new Gigondas domaines have been inserted, and 2007 Gigondas tasting notes for those domaines. Also, at Crozes-Hermitage, the new Domaine Philippe & Vincent Jaboulet, and an update on the 2007s from Vincent Paris at Cornas and Yves Gangloff at Condrieu. Please see the Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2006 whites, and keep in touch with the STGT and w.o.w. categories - the latter invariably points to good value wines.

November 2008 News: the harvest is in, the die is cast for 2008. It is certain that yields are markedly down on the abundant 2007, and I suspect that the better names will rise to the top in a year that will need precise selection. Areas that escaped the abundant September rains, and hail, will fare best. I am told that Languedoc endured less rain than much of the Southern Rhône this year, and that Alsace shows promise on its Rieslings.

I set off to the Rhône 3 times in the next 6 weeks, starting with a close look at Gigondas in the first week. I will cover 2006s, 2007s and some raw cuvées of 2008 Grenache to get an idea of matters. Please note that there are now more Gigondas domaines entered, and that some of those who also produce Beaumes-de-Venise, notably Domaine de Cassan and Château Redortier, are also now logged up.

The end of October also brought the very sad news that Monsieur Henri Brunier, the most amusing and charming proprietor of the Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe, died at the end of the month. See Goings-On for a closer appreciation of him. There was also the passing of Henri Estevenin, one of the colourful characters of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a restaurateur, and booming bon viveur whose sons run the Verger des Papes restaurant near the Château.

Gradually the net is spreading to cheaper wine appellations such as Costières de Nîmes, where I have added the good value Château La Tour de Béraud, under the same ownership as the accomplished Château Mourgues du Grès.

October 2008 News: what a crazy month was September 2008. Whacky or what? I experienced some of the turmoil first-hand when working in New York, Boston and London. Already the wine merchants are offering the Menetou Salon or Quincy rather than the Sancerre, or the Costières de Nîmes rather than the Rhône Villages. The Rhône growers joined in the general volatility with difficult weather in the first half of the month - notably two large storms in the Southern Rhône - but then welcomed the Mistral to blow from North to South and so commence cleaning-up operations.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape growers started to pick their Grenache around 21 September, and Gigondas got going a week after that. Morning temperatures of 9-10°C (48-50°F) rising to day levels of not more than 20-24°C (68-75°F) suggest a good year for the white Rhônes. Yields are well down on 2007 - 20-40% off - and it will be a year demanding careful selection by buyers: for the growers, precise, watchful and pre-emptive vineyard work will pay its rewards this year. Playing catch-up in the cellar will be a dodgy course of action.

Here on the website, there were more domaines loaded under Gigondas in September, and this will continue in October. A new Châteauneuf-du-Pape domaine, Domaine des 3 Cellier (one half of the now discontinued Domaine Saint-Benoit) has been added, and also the awakening Domaine Durieu and the steady, traditional Eddie Feraud.

The big news at Gigondas in September was the purchase by the Perrin family of Château de Beaucastel of the excellent, STGT Domaine des Tourelles - see Goings On for the explanation. A series of tastings of white Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2006s has also been done, and will be rounded up, along with the prominent Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2006 reds, under the 2006 Southern Rhône left hand tab during this month.

Visits to the Rhône to taste 2006s and 2007s and some vats of 2008 will occur in the next months leading up to Christmas. We also bid farewell to the home photograph of my runner beans (still giving crop on 3 October, 2008) and greet a shot of Gigondas from the air that I took in February 2008. In rainy vintages, Gigondas often performs well, helped by the altitude and later ripening of its vineyards. A sound September is, of course, a pre-requisite.

September 2008 News: the flowering beans retain their picture slot, but their coulure has been similar to that experienced by the Grenache in parts of the Rhône - when the flowers do not convert into fruit. Lack of sunshine hours has been a big problem in England this summer - August is about 97 hours versus an average of 165 hours. Down in the Rhône, growers are crossing their fingers for a good start to September, but have been boosted by a hot and fine second half of August. Please see Goings-On for some latest reports from the growers.

On a personal note, two visits to Moscow have marked my August, a Moscow that had a third week of heat around 25-33°C, high indeed. Wine exists in something of a desert in Russia, since taxes are punitive for those on a normal working wage. A typical Côtes du Rhône red sells for around £40 or US$73 in a restaurant. In good food shops, such as the one on the main avenue of Tverskaya, Guigal and Paul Jaboulet Aîné are on the shelves, with off vintages such as 2002 present, but also recent Beaumes-de-Venise sweet wines including the 2006 that bear the new Jaboulet labelling. Smaller Rhône domaines do not figure among the oceans of Bordeaux.

One small venue of note is Le Sommelier, address 5 Smolenskaya Street - opposite the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the main Ring Road - one of the seven splendid Stalin era buildings. This is on the west side of the city. You can smoke a cigar and eat Jabugo Iberian ham, while sipping a domaine wine here, with a variety of choices. Côtes du Rhône red from Domaine Charvin and Condrieu from Yves Cuilleron are both available there. The telephone number is +7495 7826363, web http://www.lesommelier.ru/. Good hunting!

Another mention of dinners in the Rhône for April or May 2009. Let me know if this piques your interest - some have replied already, and this is restricted to subscribers. Email me at jll@drinkrhone.com, por favor.

In September, I will be in New York and Boston at the start of the month, and the next vineyard visit will be after the growers have harvested - some time in October, therefore.

August 2008 News: Cornas, le cheval mascot, has been rudely usurped by my own efforts at cultivation, just when vignerons are doing likewise in their vineyards. The beans that are flowering on the left are Scarlet Emperor, a classic Runner Bean, and on the right is Hestia, a dwarf Runner Bean. Both have been grown from organic seeds, but the year in southern England has been as tricky as it has in much of Europe, with very little sustained heat of any note. The beans are currently being cropped and the family feel healthy. I have always though that wine writers should be obliged to grow crops so they understand the vicissitudes and pitfalls that await anyone trying to make wine. That might rule out rather a lot of scribblers, probably no bad thing.

In the Rhône vineyards, we enter the bend into the home straight for 2008, with weather in August playing a major role in the outcome for the 2008 vintage. There has been widespread mildew in the vines after so many constant rainfalls in May and June - nothing large, but enough to wipe away any treatments. It was also cool at flowering time. Please see Goings-On for some more comments on 2008 so far.

There is also a tasting review of Paul Jaboulet Ainé, with the wines entered under their domaine heading. The 2005s and 2006s were put under the spotlight in May, 2008. The Tavel 2007s have been covered, and also little retrospectives on 2003 and 2000 Châteauneuf-du-Pape reds.

This month I have two visits abroad, not connected with the wine, so there will be gradual progress in entering Gigondas. I am also considering organising some dinners in the Rhône around April or May 2009. These would involve drinking a young vintage or two, and one that was more mature, say 5 to 8 years old. Some growers would be present, and there would be a vineyard visit on the day of the dinner. This is a very early idea, but it would be helpful if any subscribers could register their interest. Because space is limited in many of the venues, this will be reserved for subscribers only. Please contact me at jll@drinkrhone.com

July 2008 News: we retain Cornas, le cheval, as our photo mascot, even though he is taking a summer rest and probably galloping around some prime West Country turf near his stables. A small degree of extra sophistication has hit town this month, as links are created to wines singled out in tastings. I have given the STGT wines their own slot, as this is so fundamental to the approach that I most appreciate and respect.

From June, the highlight in London was an exceptional lunch at the 1 star Michelin Ledbury restaurant, a dish of ravioli of crab and lemongrass with sweetcorn and girolles being the complete star: beautiful with the Saint-Péray Les Pins 2006 from Domaine Gripa. Before that I was in the Rhône, which had its first really warm weather on Tuesday 17 June, after 5 or 6 weeks of indifferent climate. Outbreaks of mildew were reported in the Gard area, west of the river in the Southern Rhône, and elsewhere growers were struggling to contain that and some oidium on their vines. Cool weather, a lot of small rainfalls and no stable high pressure meant that copper or sulphur treatments for mildew and oidium were not gripping on the vines. At that stage the harvest was about 10 days behind the time of recent vintages.

To be posted this month will be a very full appraisal of 2005 at both Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas, as well as notes on 2006s and some 2007s. About 35 Tavel 2007s will also be put up, as these wines are obviously time sensitive. The new wines will be flagged up when entered in the section marked The Wines, where each domaine`s close-up is to be found. Visan, a Côtes du Rhône Village with some promising domaines, is finally emerging from a long dormant phase, and some 45 wines from there will be posted up, with their domaines as well. This is the sort of place that should be offering good value for money as winemaking standards improve and younger growers look after the vineyards more carefully than previous forebears.

For the moment, sample domaines that are free to all to assess what you receive on drinkrhone.com are Domaine Courbis and Jean-Michel Gérin in the North, and Domaine Pierre André and Domaine Chante Cigale at Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the South. This should give a flavour of what to expect. I can always be contacted at jll@drinkrhone.com as well.

June 2008 News: I am leaving my cobra story for anyone who may stray on to the website, just to show that international travel surely ain`t what it used to be: this comes from the Hotel des Cocotiers in Douala, Cameroun, the only hotel where I have witnessed a snake in Reception. This was being lit up by a man in Wellington boots, who retreated each time he tried to hit the reptile, only infuriating it even more. I was watching this panto, when a waiter sidled up to me. The Camerounais have a wonderful sense of humour, and delivery. He knew me well from previous visits: "Bon jour, chef," he started - "pas bon, eh?" I didn`t know whether I should comment on the badness of the situation - no-one checking in etc - or the badness of the man`s aim. I opted for the classic British middle way: "C`est vrai, non. Where does the snake come from?" He informed me that they had been clearing some land next to the hotel, and this snake had been knocked out of a coconut tree. He reserved the best to last: "C`est un cobra ......... pause for effect ...... femelle, vous savez" and doubled up laughing. The female of the species, oh my goodness - this is SERIOUS!!

May 2008 News: The really big news in April was the triumph of my friend Nick Brookes` horse, Cornas. Nick is the supremo of Vinetrail, http://www.vinetrail.co.uk/, and a full-on Rhône supporter, as can be judged by the name of this beast that was actually bred in New Zealand. Not called Hawkes Bay, then Nick? Cornas prevailed in a 2-mile hurdle race at Wincanton, near another noted Rhône merchant`s stable, that of Yapp Brothers, http://www.yappbrothers.co.uk/. Boy, this is becoming a merchandising intro. The nub of the matter is that Cornas won at 12/1, a very considerate starting price for those not into the turf: ie invest 1 bottle on him, and receive a whole case, plus your original bottle, in return. He went unbacked by me, as at that precise moment I was in the ladies lavatory, the one with the door open, on the M4 motorway service station having received food poisoning in a Tapas restaurant in Monmouth, Wales. 3 members of my extended family were also felled in similar fashion. Go Cornas, and beware tapas in Monmouth.

April was marked by a full week of tasting a few hundred Rhônes at the Decanter Wine awards, followed by a Rhône dinner at the marvellous Hambleton Hall Hotel in the heart of England, its smallest county of Rutland. This is rolling country where King Richard III was born, and Mary, Queen of Scots beheaded in February, 1587 at the Castle of Fotheringhay - an area well worth a visit. The submissions for Decanter had grown this year, and a few more high quality wines were involved, with beneficial results. I think I have to be a bit hush hush for the moment.

Meanwhile, on the site, the main domaines of Vacqueyras have been loaded, and the next step is for more Gigondas. I am also feeding in 2006 Northern Rhônes. The Big Tasting slot now includes the vertical of Château de Beaucastel red held in Hong Kong in November 2007. There are also some very good small bistrots newly listed in Eat and Stay - notably at Tavel, Vacqueyras and Tain.

April 2008 News: a reminder that Hong Kong very smartly reduced wine duty from 40% to ZERO on February 27, 2008 - what a move to tie up the burgeoning Asian market, a real hub there from now on. Berry Brothers have a wine education school starting up, and there is big action there now. Here in Britain, we were hit with increased duty on wine - 15p a bottle if I recall - in the mid-March budget. Second: Le Parisien, the French newspaper, published an article on Champagne last year, and it has been deemed by the Judge of First Instance to have constituted publicity for wine. The threat is now that all articles on wine in France should bear a health and pregnancy warning. Websites on wine in France are also menaced by another judicial move that may prevent them showing any publicity. If all young drunks got hooched up on wine, this might be more explicable but all growers feel under threat now from this sort of over-reaction and grim disapproval from those on high.

The only other commercial tip I can relay from my weeks in France in January is - try not to fly internally: the Air France monopoly will cost you about twice more than your local aller-retour flights from a nearby country. Some 2007 Pomerols may be OK, as will the southern Rhône. At the moment, 2006 views have been posted on a series of Châteauneufs, including Beaucastel, Clos des Papes and Rayas 2006, for instance. More will be posted this month.

In the meantime, you will see that the website has moved to a subscription service. The cost is £40 a year. The idea is for a data base that is gradually built up over time. The website will be updated on a gradual basis, but it should be treated as a live archive rather than a daily or weekly newspaper. I emphasize that I do not and cannot earn my living from wine writing, so I also work in communication training, which takes me around the world, far from the vineyards. So blocks of data will be loaded at intervals. Please do not expect daily updates.

I am often asked the question - when is the Southern book coming out? My answer is: my post-tax revenues from the 700+ page Northern book so far - advance and royalty - are less than US$4,000. Expenses obviously lurch this figure into a blazing Syrah red. I would expect - and hope - that many of you would not get out of bed for such derisory income for work that took over 2 years. So you do what you can: the website is the first stage towards a Southern book.

One other item of news: on 28 March, 2007, I formally participated in the purchase of 0.8795 of a hectare at Cornas, split between the site of La Genale and Thezier. A group of British and Scandinavian wine enthusiasts and professionals assembled the necessary to acquire this land and to rent it to the nephew of the vendor for a 40-year period. The seller was Robert Michel, who was taking his retirement. The nephew is Vincent Paris. He will continue to produce a wine called La Geynale. As a result, I declare an interest in the domaine Vincent Paris, as of spring 2007. VIVE LE CORNAS!

You may note that the website is a little more polished than before. You can now search more easily for specific wines, specific vintages or specific tasting notes triggered, for example, by how many stars you seek in a wine. If you want a 4-star St-Joseph, go to Search, plug in St-Joseph in the Vineyard box and 4 stars in its box, and there should be an abracadabra moment of revelation. Scroll down past mountains of Guigal and St-Joseph is there at the bottom, in correct alphabetical order. I cross my fingers on your behalf(ves).

This is a site intended to cover the Rhône Valley wines, people and vineyards. It is being gradually launched, since its composition will be the fruit of over 30 years' work, and that means a mighty number of little orange Rhodia notebooks (must be size 14).

My name is John Livingstone-Learmonth. I am the author of 4 books - "The Wines of the Rhône" - published by Faber & Faber in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. My latest work on the region, The Wines of the Northern Rhone, was published by University of California Press, on sale from November 2005 (US$55, £ 35.95). It can be referenced on http://go.ucpress.edu/livingstone-learmonth.

The book won two Awards in 2006. The first was a Special Commendation for the André Simon Award. It has since been voted the Louis Roederer International Wine Book of the Year 2006. Press reaction has also been favourable, and I have received some enthusiastic e-mails from readers in countries including Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, even England. None from France yet, but I am informed of an American gentleman who likes to drink at Willis Wine Bar in Paris. He was seen seated at the counter with a bottle of Clusel-Roch Les Grandes Places and Barge Côte Brune Côte-Rôtie on either side of him, my book in front of him, muttering "this book is going to cost me a lot of money." He has since returned to drink a magnum of Clape Cornas.

Buy the book in the UK
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The first data to be placed on the site will be on the Northern Rhône domaines, and will include tasting notes not placed in the recent book. Thereafter, information on southern Rhône domaines will be fed in.

Over time, there will also be coverage of good value wines, best wines, where to stay and eat, and growers' recipes. For the best wines, the tasting archive will go back to the 1980s and even 1970s.

The data will be gradually increased and the links and layout finessed over the summer of 2007.

You can contact me at this address jll@drinkrhone.com