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Thursday 6 November 2014

Bancroft Rhône Vintage Report 2013: "Syrah steals the show"

2013 was an excellent year for Syrah in the Rhône Valley and a vintage of generally very low yields for the older Grenache vines. The quality is overall showing itself as high particularly in the Northern Rhône, and the yields are very low both in the North and South, yet the prices look mainly unchanged since the last year. We maintain that the Rhône valley is still one of the few wine regions offering continued, superb value for money.  The 2013 Rhône wines offer a perfect hunting ground for everyday drinking wines as well as some serious regional superstars. Most of the wines featured in this offer will be on show at the Bancroft Fine Wine December tasting on the 3rd of December. We strongly encourage you to come and taste them with us then.



NORTHERN RHÔNE

2013 proves itself to be an excellent vintage in the Northern Rhône.  High quality is well spread across the appellations and the northern reds exhibit great substance and charm. Most of the outstanding winemakers that we have visited on our recent buying trip compared this Syrah vintage to 2010 in terms of understated elegance and precisely defined aromatics. Indeed, the best wines exhibit beautiful deep colour and a delicious aromatic profile of ripe yet cool, black and blue fruit. This fruit is similarly restrained but is perhaps more open now than in 2010 resulting in inviting wines with upfront charm as well as dense core substance. There is an underlining fresh acidity found in the 2013 northern reds that combined with finely textured, ripe tannins, forms a good structure and promises good ageing potential. A prolonged growing season and relatively cool summer has ensured that 2013 is a terroir vintage in which Syrah displays great sense of provenance and place - the main feature of the 2013 vintage.

The white wines from the 2013 northern Rhône vintage are similarly fine and attractive. They offer great balance and high aromatic definition of ripe, elegant fruit that ranges from greengage to yellow flashed peaches. Minerals and a vivid acidity provides exceptional freshness and vibrant energy ensuring that the 2013 whites will age well. The only downside of this exciting vintage is the reduced quantity of the wines. Average production in 2013 was down by 25%.    



SOUTHERN RHÔNE

2013 was an excellent year for Southern Rhône whites. Moderate temperatures in the summer months have preserved high levels of acidity and the best wines are beautifully balanced with a high concentration of yellow stoned and citrus fruit.  The whites are fairly consistent in style offering a smooth silky texture, great aromatic precision and pronounced minerality. The character of the 2013 Southern Rhône red wines has been greatly influenced by the excellent quality of this year’s Syrah plus the miniscule yields of the older Grenache vines. Coulure has reduced Grenache yields to less than 10hl/ha in some of the vineyards and most of the 100% Grenache cuvées were not made in 2013. The quality of late picked Grenache was Burgundian in texture with perfume and delicacy replacing benchmark muscle and power. However, the purists who managed to preserve the usual, high percentages of Grenache in the final blends ended up with only avery small quantity of wine. We can expect pure Grenache cuvées to be in very short supply. The best of the 2013 red wines are well balanced and concentrated with refreshingly moderate levels of alcohol. Aromatic, ripe fruit is well defined and measured, backed by considerable backbone structure with ripe tannins and lively acidity. There is something very Northern in the style of many 2013 Southern reds. The fruit profile is generally darker thanks to higher proportion of Syrah and Mourvedre, with black fruit often spiced by white pepper and earthy, meaty notes.
South meets North in a glass.



GROWING SEASON

2013 was a slow, prolonged season resulting in the very late harvest that finished three weeks later than usual. Some Grenache vineyards in Châteauneuf du Pape were harvested as late as in the first week of November. The growing conditions were very challenging right from the beginning. Cold and wet winter weather with more than 400mm of rain from November to March continued well into the spring months slowing vegetative growth of the vines. Bud burst was very late, delayed by wet weather conditions with low temperatures. Crucially, uneven flowering occurred three weeks later than average at the end of May - beginning of June in cold and wet conditions, resulting in lower quantity of fruit overall. Temperatures as low as 8ºC during this period with humid air resulted in Coulure. This has had a particularly bad affect on the older Grenache vines with reported yield in these vineyards being reduced by up to 50% on the previous year.  Hard work on the vines was needed and extensive green harvesting in June and July was crucial for the future quality of Syrah and Mourvedre. The weather finally improved in the stable but not hot summer months of July and August.  However this time was insufficient for plants to accelerate growth and recover for the lost time. Acidity levels remained quite high while measurements of sugar in the grapes were worryingly low in August causing concern with growers. Finally, the 2013 vintage was saved by warm and stable weather in September that lasted until mid-October with only occasional episodes of rain. In this period the grapes advanced fast in terms of sugar ripeness and managed to obtain optimum ripeness in skins. For the whites the harvest started on the 10th September in Châteauneuf du Pape, the 12th of September in Lirac and the 15th of September in Crozes Hermitage. For the reds, harvest commenced in the third week of September in Southern Rhône starting with Syrah. In the north it began on the 13th September in St Joseph, on the 20th September in Cornas and on the 9th October in the Côte Rotie. 2013 was in many ways an unusual vintage and in some of the southern vineyards Grenache was picked later than the Mourvedre. The harvested crop was in a healthy condition and as usual, rigorous selection process was needed to ensure the high quality of the berries and juice. With cool summer months essential acidity levels were well preserved with relatively low pH achieved in the whites of around 3.2 and in between 3.35 and 3.45 for the reds. Refreshingly moderate alcohol levels were reported in the south with final blends rarely exceeding 14.5%. In the north they ranged between 12.7% and 14% - classic readings reminiscent more of older vintages from the 1970’S and 1980’S than other more recent blockbuster years: wonderful and refreshing.  

Compiled by Neb Gusic, Director, Bancroft Wines

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