During the years I have covered the Rhone for JamesSuckling.com, the region has seen every type of weather, and this year the force of the cold, northwesterly mistral wind almost knocked me over a couple of times. Even though this is a warm wine-producing region, particularly the south, it is also a place of extremes.
This also applies to how the wines are marketed. Whereas nearly all the wines of the more popular Bordeaux region are shipped roughly two years after harvest, the wines of the Rhone come onto the market anywhere between one and four to even five years after the grapes are picked.
This means that although this report focuses on the 2022 vintage, there are also a good many wines from the 2023 and 2021 vintages, plus smaller numbers from the 2020 and 2019 vintages. So, what are the personalities of these vintages in the Rhone? And how is the general situation there changing as the climate of an already warm region heats up even more?