We've been saying it for years, but it bears repeating—you'd be hard pressed to find any region in the world that offers more consistent and diverse value propositions than the Rhône Valley.
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The beautiful sun that ripens the grapes in France’s Southern Rhône Valley translates to fruity, delicious wines in your glass. With the help of the hearty Mistral wind that blows through the vineyards, these wines retain freshness and verve all while delivering complex, full-flavored wines. Do not miss these!
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There’s something about Northern Rhône that unites wine lovers. It happens to present perfect conditions to really understand terroir—that is, how different places can affect the same grape’s profile in the final wine. Northern Rhône is to Syrah lovers what Burgundy is to Pinot lovers: an intellectual playground for the grape.
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Côtes-du-Rhône and the Cru Villages offer some of the best QPR anywhere in the world. Here are some of the best of the best in the category.
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Châteauneuf-du-Pape still remains the most recognized region in the Rhône Valley, which is a hub for fantastic values across the spectrum of its offerings. As with the everyday value that Côtes-du-Rhône provides, the cost-to-quality ratio for the higher-end wines from Châteauneuf is nearly insurmountable by any other region.
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Whether you are collecting for investment or for decades of enjoyment ahead, there are certain tried-and-true benchmark producers that are always the wisest of bets for your wine cellar. I’m pleased to share a few thoughts on some of my personal favorite producers, all of whom I hold in the highest regard. These are among the finest in their regions and provide exceptional value at their level. If you are looking to start a wine collection, you absolutely cannot go wrong if you start with wines from any of these estates.
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WeatherEye Vineyard, on the ridgeline of Red Mountain in Washington, is without doubt one of the most exciting vineyards anywhere in the United States: a site so radical, its implementation has been 15 years in the making! The incredibly rocky, volcanic soils, constant wind, elevation, and lengthy growing season give the wines immense concentration and structure. Even though the vines are relatively young, the intensity of the wines here is already formidable.
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Vigneron Rudi des Pins is at the helm of Château de Montfaucon, an estate in Southern Rhône that represents one of the longest-running partners we’ve had in our Direct Import program. Long ago, when directly importing wines was just a twinkle in co-owner Clyde Beffa’s eye, he met Rudi and tasted his wonderful wines; the rest is history. The wines of Montfaucon are fan favorites year after year.
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For many years, Ventoux was associated with thin, lackluster table wines. Yet in recent decades the potential for excellence has been tapped by skilled winemakers, and you now can find some exceptionally good wines from Ventoux on our shelves. The massive slopes of Mont Ventoux, famous for chewing up riders during the Tour de France, dominates the region of vines to the southwest, creating a natural amphitheater that allows for cooler nights and a longer growing season. And no one understands this climate differential more than Sebastien Vincenti, the inspired owner of Domaine de Fondrèche, whose balanced, flavorful range of appreciably affordable wines are stunning stars in our Southern Rhône portfolio.
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In the five years since we added Château Gigognan to our Direct Import portfolio, I’ve watched this estate evolve into a truly impressive producer. When I last visited in 2022, I saw they’d made some exciting physical improvements: they’d added a new barrel-aging facility to augment their concrete fermenters, and they’d put the finishing touches on their new visitor center. Surrounded by the lovely Bois des Moines vineyards, whose fruit goes into their Côtes du Rhône, this is property that showcases the beauty of Provence in full force. But most importantly, its terroir really speaks through its wines.
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Domaine Belle is located in the village of Larnage, just to the north of the famous winemaking cooperative of Tain l’Hermitage, which the original Louis Belle helped to found in 1933. Today, the third generation, Philippe, is at the helm, and his son Guillaume is in the process of learning the ropes. Today, they own 25 hectares covering six communes and three appellations in the Northern Rhône. We added this fantastic family-run estate to our Direct Import portfolio five years ago, and they have quickly become a fan favorite for their deep, soulful wines.
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The wines of Jean-Louis Chave hold a special place atop the Rhône wine hierarchy. With an unbroken winegrowing lineage that dates back to 1481, not many other producers in the region (or even the world) can claim the heritage, the history, or the track record of superb craftsmanship that the Chave brand has evoked for centuries.
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