2023 Rhône En Primeur: Exceptional Wines

First things first: the 2023 vintage in the Rhône has produced some exceptional wines and if, like me, you enjoy ripe fruit-forward wines, then you are in for a real treat.

I spent five days travelling north to south, visiting almost every estate we work with and a few that may be interesting for the future, as we like to keep an eye on the up-and-comers too.

Expectations

Before we went out, we’d heard around the traps that this was a vintage that needed ‘taming’ because of the ripeness and exuberance of the fruit (and indeed we sent out an email expounding this view), but once we got down to visiting our growers, this turned out to be a story that concerned only the larger, négociant-led producers who, as they are buying in fruit, have less control over what comes into the winery.

Up and down the Rhône I kept hearing a similar story; a hard vintage to read, you really had to keep on top of the weather reports and be in constant touch with the vineyards. Spending time in the vineyards definitely reaped its rewards, as controlling disease from mildew pressure played a big part.

As we all know, it all starts in the vineyard, the leading producers all pay more attention to what goes on here than in the cellars. What happens in the cellars is important of course, but with great material from the vineyards come the great wines.

It cannot be overstated that for the growers making wines from their own fruit, yes, 2023 had its complications, perhaps in a world of uncertain weather patterns this will become the norm, but they were unanimously happy with what they picked.

Vintage Report

My opening question to every vigneron we visited was the same, “How was the vintage for you in 2023?” and without exception the answer was similar: that it was complicated, but ultimately it was a good vintage and you can buy with confidence that the wines made are of very good quality.

With a dry winter leading into the 2023 vintage, we saw lots of rainfall before spring - thanks to changing and more extreme weather patterns, big downpours and hail are becoming more common. After the downpours, a long dry period, followed by extended warm heatwaves, led to a good growing season.

Hot on the heels of the warm 2022 vintage, the exciting 2023 is marked by freshness, fruit, elegance, good acids and good structure. In the north the wines have great poise and elegance, whilst the south looks to be fresher, very bright and pure.

In summary the 2023 is a vintage that will put a smile on your face. The whites are drinking now, full of fresh, floral brightness. The reds are compelling, the north maybe edging the south for a more serious expression, but ask me another day and perhaps the south wins on wines of joy. I can safely say though, up and down the mighty Rhône river, there are happy winemakers and rightly so.

Derek Robertson
Lea & Sandeman Rhône Buyer