Wine with Leslie: Don't delay sampling wines from Rhône, especially when they're on sale
Heard it on the grapevine: Rhone wines are full of character and flavour
As I write there are three Irish lads (one honorary) down in the Southern Rhône making wine for the ‘Les Deux Cols’ range of wines which I’ve often featured on this page. I tasted another of their wines this week for the first time along with a gorgeous white from the Northern Rhône, and these two wines that sent me into the samples pile looking for similar treats from this most intriguing of regions.
The Northern Rhône begins just south of Lyon where the river flows rather fast and furiously and has created steep banks and hills perfect for growing Syrah with a few pockets suited to white grapes: Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne. The Mistral wind blows fiercely here and vines are sometimes hidden behind rocks and bluffs to protect young shoots — the climate is Continental and cooler than you might expect for Syrah.
