2015 Rhône Valley Vintage

The 2015 season in the Rhone Valley is remembered for a warm, wet spring and a dry summer. Winter and spring rainfall recharged the water table, so the vines had enough water to face the hot, dry months without symptoms of drought. In the Costieres de Nimes, budbreak came late, but by bloom the vintage had caught up with a normal year, and in the south veraison started mid-July, within the norm. Temperatures rose to heatwave proportions at the beginning of July, making 2015 one of the hottest seasons of the last few decades. In the north, the growing season was as hot as 2003 at times, but cooler nights let grapes keep their natural acidity, and the little rains of 24 August and 1 September unblocked vines that had shown hydric stress in a few areas. In the south, late August rains were scattered; two August storms helped where the amounts were small but created health issues on early varieties such as Viognier and Syrah where they were big. The late August rain was ideal for later varieties such as Mourvedre and Carignan. Nearly all northern harvesting was finished by mid- to late September, and Domaine du Pegau began picking in Chateauneuf-du-Pape around 20 September. Volumes were back to normal and near the average, with 1.4 million hectolitres for the Cotes du Rhone; yields were in the normal range in the north and the south had a normal-sized crop.

• Warm, wet spring; winter and spring rain recharged the water table
• Heatwave temperatures at the beginning of July; the north was as hot as 2003 at times, with cooler nights
• Rain on 24 August and 1 September relieved hydric stress in the north; heavy August storms caused health issues on early varieties in some southern spots
• Northern picking nearly all done by mid- to late September; Chateauneuf-du-Pape picking began around 20 September; yields near normal

Northern Rhone growers were smiling, with early reports pointing to a potentially classic vintage and, so far, no bad news. Jean-Louis Chave summed up the season: "A perfect spring followed by a perfect drought-like summer. Finally we got rain, followed by Indian summer, which helped a lot for a better physiological ripeness." Thanks to the drought, the grapes formed thick skins that let them shrug off disease-inducing moisture, and Michel Chapoutier's vineyards had no disease pressure. The one risk was picking too early on rising sugar levels, before full physiological ripeness; most producers waited for the rain and picked soon after. Sugar levels were remarkably good, particularly in the northern vineyards. Louis Barruol of St.-Cosme found Hermitage white more balanced than Condrieu, probably because Marsanne copes better with heat than Viognier.

• Syrah, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier all excelled
• Thick skins and no disease pressure in Chapoutier's vineyards
• In Philippe Guigal's view, tannin maturity reached impressive levels and the size of the vintage is not small

Wine Spectator's southern harvest report called it a power vintage. A long, hot and dry growing season produced nearly ideal grapes, but August brought heavy rains to some spots, and wines showed high alcohols and lots of phenolics, but sometimes low acidity. At Chateau de Beaucastel, the cool nights of August kept acidity in the grapes, the Grenache was perfectly ripe after the last rain, and the late-ripening Mourvedre benefited from the rain, the sun and an Indian summer; Marc Perrin's team did more whole-cluster fermentations than ever before because the stems were so ripe. Veraison languished a bit on young Grenache with pronounced hydric stress, a problem not seen on old-vine Grenache. Earlier-ripening Viognier and Syrah also faced some disease pressure that required careful vineyard work. Eric Texier, who makes wine in both the north and the south, found the south much more complicated, especially for Grenache.

• Grenache and Mourvedre were the promising grapes
• Cool August nights kept acidity in the grapes at Beaucastel
• Young Grenache under hydric stress lagged at veraison; old-vine Grenache did not
• Concerns: high alcohols and sometimes low acidity

Thick grape skins high in polyphenols gave good color and tannins, and the low acidity of the year gave the whites and roses a feeling of fullness and opulence. The first reds surprised tasters with the intensity of their color and the richness of their tannins, and Syrahs in the north and Grenaches in the south produced some stunning cuvees. Northern growers reached for historic comparisons. Philippe Guigal said his father called 2015 the most exceptional vintage he had seen in the past 55 years, and Paul Amsellem of Domaine Georges Vernay in Condrieu said it would be "one of the best of the last 60 years, maybe like 1947." In Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Jean-Paul Versino of Bois de Boursan saw a return to a southern style after two more elegant years in 2013 and 2014, with low acidity that made him think of 2007.

• Thick skins, high polyphenols, good color and tannins
• Low acidity gave whites and roses fullness and opulence
• Intense color and rich tannins in the first reds; stunning Syrah cuvees in the north and Grenache cuvees in the south