The Rhône Valley just south of the city Lyon in France is probably one of the most versatile and diverse wine region in France or dare I say the World? Already we can divide the region of the Northern and Southern part which represents two completely different wine styles. This is where we can find Crozes-Hermitage.
On the South we have the famous Châteauneuf-du-Pape with its little brothers and sisters like Gigondas, Rasteau, Vacqueyras and so on. Here they prefer to blend the main grape varieties of the region: Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre with Marsanne and Roussanne as a white varieties. However in the Northern Rhône Syrah is the king, all the red wines we find here (except those with Côte du Rhône on the label) made with 100% Syrah and where you can, a little bit of Viognier, Marsanne or Roussanne added to soften and spice up the wine.
Crozes-Hermitage
The biggest appellation in this area in Crozes-Hermitage. And exactly this size gives the incredible diversity we can experience tasting its wines, this is where I would like to focus today. Most of the wines produced here are red wines made from Syrah, sometimes blended with small quantities of white Roussanne or Marsanne grapes. The rules allow the addition of up to 15% of the white grapes. Some white wines are also made, based on same white varieties.
In 1846, a panel of tasters commended the wine for its likeness to Hermitage, one of the most prestigious wines in the country. The appellation was officially defined in 1937 as an AOP and was expanded in 1952. Crozes-Hermitage, along with the rest of northern Rhône has a continental climate that differs from the Southern Rhône, which has a more Mediterranean climate. Winters are wet and marked by the cold mistral winds that can last into spring. The appellation is fairly large by Northern Rhône standards, with its 1,514 hectares accounting for approximately half of the entire region’s 2,400 hectares.
In this region, the soil is mostly rocks, sand and clay. Just south of Tain galets roulés, small surface stones also found extensively in Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the southern Rhône, appear. The southernmost part of the appellation is flat and newly planted. The region forms a circle around the more famous Hermitage appellation, and the Rhône River separates it from the area’s second largest region, St-Joseph. The more notable vineyards in Crozes-Hermitage include Les Chassis, Les Sept Chemins and Les Meysonniers.
Many of the red wines are relatively light and intended for early drinking, while others will keep and improve in bottle for several years. Crozes-Hermitage is notable for the large amount of cooperatives. Cave de Tain, is one of the largest, taking half of the grapes grown in the AOP so not suprisingly they have a wide portfolio of how these wines can express the terroir.
Cave de Tain
The cooperative was founded in 1933 by Louis Gambert de Loche and a hundred winegrowers in Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage. In 1940-50’s winegrowers from Saint-Joseph, Cornas and Saint-Péray join the Cave de Tain. It lies at the foot of the Hermitage hillside where they own an impressive 22 hectares. They own 30,9 hectares in total; 22 ha in Hermitage, 5 ha in Crozes-Hermitage, 3 ha in Cornas and 0.9 ha in Saint-Péray and working with an additional 250+ partner-cooperators which makes around 1000 hectares of planted vineyards for them.
In 2012 they had the first certified organic vintage out of four red wines. And in 2015 they have been named cooperative winery of the year at the Revue du Vin de France Trophies.
With these five cru wines and the Collines Rhodaniennes (Rhodanian Hills) vineyards, as an extension of their multiple personalities, the winegrowers have the privilege of having a palette of terroirs, unique in their richness and diversity to choose from.
Expressing Crozes-Hermitage
They know how to express the best and their ambition was to be able to choose vinification “plot by plot”. That has now been put into practice and around fifty plot selections are cherished in their wineries, when the vintage deserves it.
Their team has long-held knowledge of the subtleties of the vineyards of Crozes-Hermitage and the art of making it speak.
In terms of surface area and the number of winemakers, it is their primary vineyard (16 times bigger than the Hermitage vineyard), where there are two types of emblematic soils, granite and galets (small surface stones) offer never-ending combinations:
– pebbly and filtrating soils of the Rhone or the Isère in the south,
– predominantly granite soils, in a fresher climate in the north.
Each vintage gives them to produce different blends and expressions from this diverse terroir, at the moment, there are 6 wines (both whites and reds) are available from their portfolio.
• Nobles Rives and a plot selection with the very best selection of vineyards and 30 years old vines, the “Les Hauts du Fief”.
• And the Crozes-Hermitage Bio red as Cave de Tain is a pioneer of sustainable wine growing and making in the Rhône.
I got the chance to taste the first two mentioned red and the difference is very obvious. Both wines are very good quality, I would keep them for a further 10 years easily, the HdF maybe a little bit longer with a couple of years. On the palate NR shows more fruity flavours and freshness, HdF has riper fruit characters, flowers and oaky vanilla taste. They have a persistent long finish.
On the white selection, they have the Bio as a new feature of the portfolio with the Nobles Rives and the more terroir driven plot selected “Les Hauts d’Eole” blanc. Unfortunately I haven’t got the chance to try the white wines yet, but I am sure it would be a great tasting experience in everyone’s glass hence I am confident to recommend you to try.
Conclusion
Cave de Tain is a very well respected cooperative with wines of the premium quality spectrum, especially the ones from Hermitage so if you find yourself in a position to try them, don’t hesitate because you won’t regret it!
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