2008 Rhône Valley Vintage

At Chateauneuf-du-Pape, the heavy rain of spring 2008 brought above-average mildew pressure and coulure that was far from negligible. Flowering was late and difficult, especially in the southern Rhone's Grenache vineyards, and some Chateauneuf growers' Grenache suffered poor fruit set in June. Excessive rain and temperature fluctuations followed, with a grey August and a rainy early September. In the north, 2008 was the rainiest year in 30 years: 300mm of rain, the amount that would normally fall in six months, fell on the hill of Hermitage in just 24 hours on 3 to 4 September, enough to deluge Hermitage and Cote-Rotie. In the south, some Chateauneuf growers were hit by hail on 15 September, there was some late hail damage in southern appellations, and Chateauneuf-du-Pape had two stormy episodes in mid-September. Then the weather turned, with sunshine from mid-September well into October and a cool Mistral that arrested rot and concentrated the berries. At Chateauneuf-du-Pape, the Mistral and the cooler temperatures it brought, 1.5 to 2 C below seasonal averages, let growers spread out their picking until the grapes reached full phenolic and technological ripeness. After recent years of picking from the end of August, Chateauneuf growers waited until the last days of September to start on Grenache and Mourvedre, and the harvest ended around mid-October. In the south, some Grenache was still not ripe by 21 September, which is most unusual. The Chateauneuf-du-Pape crop came to 84,000 hl against a production potential of 110,000 hl on the appellation's 3,160 hectares, and the red Rhone vintage was 25% smaller than normal.

• Chateauneuf-du-Pape: rainy spring, above-average mildew pressure, coulure far from negligible; late, difficult flowering, especially for southern Grenache
• North: rainiest year in 30 years, with 300mm on the hill of Hermitage in 24 hours on 3 to 4 September
• Hail hit some Chateauneuf growers on 15 September; from mid-September, sunshine and a cool Mistral arrested rot
• Chateauneuf-du-Pape picked Grenache and Mourvedre from the last days of September to around mid-October, making 84,000 hl against a 110,000 hl potential

The northern grapes swelled with water and disease rampaged through the vines. As a direct consequence, the negociant house Paul Jaboulet Aine decided not to produce its flagship Hermitage La Chapelle at all in 2008. Michel Chapoutier told Jancis Robinson that 2008 was the most difficult vintage he had known since 1991, and as official northern Rhone representative he had to ask the authorities for special permission to add sugar to make up for the low natural potential alcohol of the musts. Guigal put a record 18 people on its sorting tables to keep rotten or mildewed grapes out, yet Robinson found Guigal's 2008s pale shadows of its usual style. She singled out Chapoutier, an early adopter of biodynamic methods, for unusually dense, healthy wines in both north and south, a lovely but completely atypical red Hermitage from Tardieu-Laurent, and promising cask samples for J L Chave's Hermitage. Decanter rated Hermitage reliable, while Cornas and Crozes-Hermitage struggled.

• Rainiest northern Rhone year in 30 years; grapes swelled and disease rampaged
• Paul Jaboulet Aine made no Hermitage La Chapelle in 2008
• Michel Chapoutier sought special permission to add sugar because natural potential alcohol was low
• Decanter: Hermitage reliable; Cornas and Crozes-Hermitage struggled

Decanter read the decision of many Chateauneuf-du-Pape producers to withhold a prestige cuvee as a sign of the vintage's mediocrity, though it found the standard 'tradition' wines sometimes better than expected, if still early drinkers. Jancis Robinson found the odd exciting 2008 Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but from the absolute top drawer, naming Clos des Papes and Chateau Rayas, or among the whites. The whites, only 6% of Chateauneuf production, seemed less affected by the rains. Marcel Guigal told her he did not buy one drop of 2008 in the southern Rhone because he found so many of the wines 'acrid'. In Vacqueyras, Robinson struggled to find a 2008 with much guts, while Pierre Amadieu of Gigondas told her 'It's a restful vintage to taste', citing the appellation's much less savage tannins than usual. Decanter rated Gigondas reliable and advised judging Cotes du Rhone producer by producer; its best producers include Clos des Papes and Chateau Rayas, which Robinson also listed.

• Many Chateauneuf-du-Pape producers withheld a prestige cuvee; Decanter found the tradition wines sometimes better than expected
• Jancis Robinson: exciting Chateauneuf came from the top drawer (Clos des Papes, Chateau Rayas) or was white
• Marcel Guigal bought no southern Rhone 2008, finding many wines 'acrid'
• Vacqueyras struggled for guts; in Gigondas, Pierre Amadieu cited much less savage tannins

Decanter's verdict on the red Rhone 2008s is drink now: it describes the best wines as fresh and mineral, with less extraction, softer tannins than usual and red rather than black fruit, and expects many to reach drink-up status before the 2007s. Success was about patience, experience and individual location rather than appellation, and those who got it right saw alcohol levels higher than expected and good balance between sugars and acidity. Robinson found the 2008s decidedly muted in both north and south, especially after the super-concentrated 2007s, with the southern reds more in the red-fruit spectrum, and she wrote drink dates as early as 2011 to 2013 for some of the least ambitious red Chateauneufs. She compared the year with 2002, virtually the only other disappointment in recent memory, when the problem was the same: rain at the wrong time and in too generous quantity. The Chateauneuf-du-Pape federation's own mid-January tasting described reds with fresh strawberry and cherry fruit, grey pepper, anise and licorice spice and elegant tannins, and whites with white flower notes, richness and a fresh, balanced finish.