1986 Rhône Valley Vintage

The 1986 growing season began with promise: successful flowering and a warm, dry summer across the Rhône Valley pointed toward a large, ripe crop. However, the season unravelled decisively when heavy rains arrived in September. In the Northern Rhône, this late-season deluge brought bouts of rot and left both rotted and unripe grapes on the vine alongside healthy fruit. Producers faced an urgent and labour-intensive task of sorting at harvest, which extended into October in many areas. The Southern Rhône experienced similar difficulties, with rainfall during the harvest period undermining an otherwise reasonable summer.

• Warm, dry summer initially suggested a large, high-quality crop across the Rhône Valley
• Heavy September rains caused rot in Northern Rhône vineyards; rigorous selection was essential to salvage quality
• Northern Rhône harvest extended into October due to the need for careful sorting of healthy versus compromised fruit
• Southern Rhône growing season was slightly less severe than the North, but harvest rains still compromised overall quality

Côte-Rôtie emerged as the vintage's strongest appellation in the Northern Rhône, producing some intense and powerfully structured wines from committed growers. Hermitage also yielded good results where producers such as Chave, Guigal, and Jaboulet applied strict selection. Condrieu was largely disappointing in 1986, with Decanter noting dull whites from the appellation. In the Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape was a difficult vintage overall, with the wet conditions preventing grapes from ripening fully or evenly, leaving wines hard, firm, and tannic. Courageous producers who waited patiently for the grapes to dry out before picking did achieve firmer, better-structured results, but they were in the minority.

• Côte-Rôtie: Best appellation of the vintage; Guigal, Bernard Burgaud, and Robert Jasmin produced standout wines
• Hermitage: Reasonable success for disciplined producers including Chave, Faurie, Grippat, Guigal, and Jaboulet who sorted carefully
• Condrieu: Generally disappointing with dull white wines across the appellation
• Châteauneuf-du-Pape: Difficult vintage rated 85 points; wet harvest conditions left wines hard, firm, and tannic with incomplete ripeness

The producers who shone in 1986 were those who combined rigorous sorting with a willingness to declassify lesser fruit. In Côte-Rôtie, Guigal's reputation was already well-established by 1986, with all three of the iconic La-La single-vineyard wines in production: La Mouline (first vintage 1966), La Landonne (first vintage 1978), and La Turque (first vintage 1985). Guigal subjected each of these wines to 42 months in new French oak, a hallmark of the house style. In Hermitage, Paul Jaboulet Aîné and Jean-Louis Chave produced the most respected reds of the vintage through careful selection. Jaboulet's La Chapelle, founded in 1834 and drawing on fruit from parcels including Le Méal and Les Bessards, was one of the wines produced, though the 1986 is not ranked among the property's legendary releases: the 1961, 1978, and 1990 are the three vintages that earned 100-point scores from Robert Parker.

• Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline, La Landonne, and La Turque (its second vintage): All aged 42 months in new French oak; 1986 not among Guigal's celebrated best vintages
• Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle: Produced in 1986 with careful selection; the 1961, 1978, and 1990 remain the benchmark 100-point vintages for this label
• Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage: Chave famously left a significant quantity of unhealthy fruit on the vine, prioritising quality over volume
• Bernard Burgaud and Robert Jasmin, Côte-Rôtie: Among the smaller growers cited for strong 1986 performances in the appellation

At nearly 40 years of age, most 1986 Rhône wines have long since passed their drinking windows. The vintage produced generally firm and austere wines rather than deeply concentrated, age-worthy examples, meaning the majority were better suited to shorter-to-medium-term cellaring. Top Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage from the most careful producers may still offer interest for collectors with well-stored bottles, but careful research and authentication are strongly advisable before purchase. The Southern Rhône examples, already rated as relatively light and firm in youth, are almost certainly in serious decline or past their peak.

• Most 1986 Rhône reds are well past their expected drinking windows given the vintage's generally austere, lower-concentration character
• Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines from 1986 are very likely in serious decline; the vintage was rated for early to medium consumption
• Top Côte-Rôtie (Guigal, Burgaud, Jasmin) and Hermitage from careful producers offer the best chance of finding still-intact bottles
• Authentication, provenance, and capsule/fill level checks are essential before purchasing any 1986 Rhône at auction

The mid-1980s were a formative period for Rhône Valley wine internationally. Marcel Guigal's single-vineyard Côte-Rôtie wines had attracted enormous critical attention from Robert Parker in the early to mid-1980s, elevating the profile of the entire region. Guigal founded E. Guigal in 1946 and by 1984 had acquired Vidal-Fleury, and by 1986 all three La-La cuvées were being produced. Paul Jaboulet Aîné, founded in 1834, was at the time still family-run; Gérard Jaboulet led the house until his sudden death in 1997, after which the property went through a difficult period before being acquired by the Frey family in January 2006. The 1985 vintage immediately preceding 1986 is consistently rated more highly across the Northern Rhône, making 1986 a relative disappointment in context.

• Guigal's three La-La Côte-Rôtie cuvées were attracting major international critical attention by the mid-1980s, raising Rhône's global profile
• Paul Jaboulet Aîné was founded in 1834 and sold to the Frey family in January 2006; their legendary vintages are 1961, 1978, and 1990
• The 1985 Northern Rhône vintage is rated significantly higher than 1986, making the latter a comparative step back for the region
• The Southern Rhône's 1984 vintage was also poor, making the mid-1980s a generally challenging stretch for both halves of the valley

The defining technical challenge of the 1986 vintage was sorting. The combination of a warm, dry summer that allowed early-season ripeness followed by disruptive September rain meant that healthy and compromised fruit coexisted on the vine. Producers who employed strict hand-sorting and, in some cases, left significant quantities of fruit on the vine, produced wines that were firm and structured if not especially concentrated. The resulting wines across the Northern Rhône were characterised as firm and austere, reflecting the difficult season's impact on phenolic ripeness and fruit concentration. In the Southern Rhône, the failure to achieve full, even ripening in Grenache produced hard, tannic wines in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

• Rigorous sorting at harvest was the primary determinant of quality; producers who selected carefully made the best wines
• Rot and unripe grapes coexisted with healthy fruit, requiring producers to make difficult decisions about what to include in final blends
• Northern Rhône 1986s characterised as firm and austere rather than concentrated and ripe, reflecting incomplete phenolic development
• Southern Rhône Grenache failed to ripen fully or evenly due to the wet conditions, yielding hard, tannic Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines