2021 Northern Rhône - En Primeur Offer

A vintage of contrasting fortunes and a vintage where it pays to know your producer well; the whites are generally very good to excellent whilst the reds are medium bodied, bright and mostly ready from the get-go. This is a drinker’s vintage, one that will provide immediate pleasure and you can rest assured that we have been thorough as ever in our tasting and selection process.

In this Offer

This is primarily an offer of 2021s, but while the majority of wines are from 2021, not all our producers release their wines uniformly and so some whites are from 2022. The Duclaux brothers like to release their wines when they are in bottle and are a vintage behind with their 2020s.

Use the left side bar to browse the offer by Appellation, or the table below to browse by Producer.


Northern Rhône Map

Reviews

'I found most 2020s to have beautifully ripe, polished tannins. The wines show more red and blue fruits, terrific purity and precision, and clean, classic aromatics'
Jeb Dunnuck

'Let’s start with the conclusion. The reasoning can wait. 2020 is a very good vintage in the Northern Rhône. It is seductive, full of silken pleasure, offers wines that will grace any table, wines set to show well from an early age.'
John Livingstone-Learmonth

‘These are wines that will provide huge amounts of pleasure, straight out of the gate. It is that rare thing – an excellent vintage for early drinking.’
Matt Walls

2020 Vintage Report

With plenty of rainfall over the winter of 2019 leaving ground water levels in abundance and vineyards in good health, this paved the way for what appeared to be an almost identical vintage to 2019. Include in this the long hot summer and by all rights we should have big rich, dense textured wines. The only discernible difference being more elegance in 2020 and some wines ready to go from the off. If you like wines of purity, elegance, bright aromatics & freshness, then 2020 is a vintage to savour for early drinking, whilst leaving the 2019's & 2018's to mature a little longer.

I was really impressed with the 2020's tasted from barrel on my visit to the region in July 2021, my follow up visits in January and April this year confirmed my thoughts, that this is a head turning vintage for both red and white. If you have ever been seduced by a supple perfumed Northern Rhône Syrah, 2020 will not let you down, pitch perfect wines with great balance.

Benjamin Duclaux commented on my visit in January that the 2020's more accurately reflect the 2016's which are in a great place right now. There is something for everyone in 2020, the Syrah & Viognier from producers like Niero, Bonnefond and G&J Bott, provide a perfect gateway into the more serious 'Cru’ wines of Condrieu and Cote Rotie. Cornas, Crozes Hermitage and Saint Joseph all provide compelling reasons just why the Northern Rhône is the place to be, get on board whilst you can, because the rest of the wine world is starting to take notice.
Derek Robertson, Lea & Sandeman Rhône Buyer

Arrival in the UK

Can we use this for both: Many of the wines featured in this offer are already in the UK and are available for immediate delivery. The wines from some domaines are still to be bottled over the autumn, and will physically be with us by Spring 2023. Please do ask for account manager for further clarification.
This is an opportunity to secure the wines at the lowest possible price before they reach the general market. We guarantee you will find some exciting options for your cellar.

Prices: This is a primeur offer - all prices are quoted IN BOND per case (case sizes as stated).

Terms of the Offer

ORDERING VIA OUR WEBSITE:

  • Click on the 'ORDER' button to add cases to your Wishlist order form. The Wishlist appears in both the sidebar and header (separately from the main basket).
  • You can view and edit your Wishlist at any time before submitting the order form.
  • Submit your Wishlist order form with your details and please indicate any special requirements in the notes, including whether you would like the wines duty paid.
  • We will respond as quickly as possible with confirmation of your order and your invoice.

Please note that certain wines are on very tight allocations and will first be offered to customers who buy across the range. If you have any queries, please email our primeurs team or speak to your usual L&S contact.

ORDERING VIA EMAIL:

Please feel free to email us your Wishlist at any time. This list can include wines listed as available on the website, as well as those marked 'To Be Advised'. We will reply as soon as possible with confirmation of what we can offer.

STORAGE OPTIONS:

Wines bought en primeur are scheduled to arrive in the UK over the course of the next eighteen months. If you do not wish to take home delivery, you may wish to consider where you would like the wines shipped on arrival in the UK. Lea & Sandeman offers duty paid and in bond storage through a dedicated storage company called Elephant Storage. For more details on the terms and fees associated with storage please go to our Storage Homepage or contact our primeurs team for more information.

While helpful, we do not require a firm commitment on delivery destination to process your primeur order at this stage. Our team will be in contact with you when your wines arrive in the UK to confirm the necessary delivery details.

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RHÔNE PRIMEUR FAQ

OFFER: All wines are offered subject to availability and final confirmation.

PRICING: All prices are quoted IN BOND ex-VAT, by the case size stated. Please double check that the desired case size does match what is being offered as wines are variously listed in threes, sixes, dozens, halves and larger formats.

DELIVERY - TIMING: This is a primeur offer so the wines are not yet physically available for delivery. They will be shipped to the UK over the next eighteen months. Generally wines are shipped to your nominated location once the whole order has landed in our London City Bond account. If you require wines to be delivered by a certain date, please advise us at the time of ordering.

DELIVERY - FEES: In bond delivery to an Elephant Storage account (for more information see 'Storage Options' opposite) is free of charge. Transfer of wines to any third party bond (i.e. not Elephant Storage) will incur an administration charge of £16.50 + VAT for all orders under £500. If you require wines duty paid, please indicate this in your Wishlist order form. A duty & VAT invoice will be raised once all the wines on your order are available for shipment. Once the relevant duty & VAT has been settled, we will ship the wines to your nominated address as per our normal duty paid Delivery Terms.

PAYMENT: All orders will be invoiced for immediate payment by cheque, cash, debit card or cleared funds to our account. We regret that we cannot accept credit cards for primeur orders. We reserve the right to apply a dunning charge of 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.