Rhône 2024 En Primeur

Attractive, fruity, balanced wines

The wines
We are delighted to report the 2024 vintage has produced attractive, fruity, balanced wines with great purity, both red and white, north and south.
In the south the reds are very consistent with bright fruit flavours and soft, ripe tannins. There is an enticing freshness to the fruit which makes you want to come back for another glass. Red fruit flavours are the most common, some of the bigger wines have hints of black fruits too. Extraction had to be careful, and the overuse of oak avoided but this is something which has been increasingly commonplace over recent years. In the north too, the wines are medium rather than full bodied with great length and elegant fruit character even in areas such as Cornas and Hermitage.

The whites are particularly attractive with wonderful balance and good freshness but never veering towards the overly acidic – it is after all a region normally short on acidity. Growers are often cautiously increasing their production of whites as the market seems to be demanding more. Those in the south have breadth of flavour, without being overly tropical or hot, while many of those in the north were simply stunning with Condrieu a particular hotspot, the wines showing sublime aromatics, purity of fruit and incredible length. Overall alcohols are reasonable by Rhône standards.

The Big Picture
One of the problems of this vintage and a common story for many recent years is one of yields, with 20-25 hl now commonplace for many in the south especially where planting density is lower. This is mainly due to lack of water which it is difficult to address by irrigation. Some areas restrict irrigation, for others that allow it the cost of the infrastructure makes it prohibitive for many growers before you even get to the availability of water and possible cost. It’s not going to be easily resolved. Organic viticulture is an area which produces a range of opinions. Many of our growers are signing up with Georges Perrot at Collière and Frédéric Roméro at Soumade both certified from 2024, others are more sceptical preferring the more holistic approach of HVE3. Others work as organically as possible but feel unable to run the risk of sacrificing part of their harvest due to restrictions in treatments. It was certainly a problem in 2024.

The weather
It was certainly a tricky start to the year with a lot of rain and humidity leading to perfect conditions for fungal diseases to develop. Whether they did or not the effects of this were not consistent although generally there was some loss of crop. Those practising organic viticulture were generally hardest hit, often treating reactively and stuck with using copper-based sprays, while others could be more proactive and, having a bigger choice of methods to combat disease, often ended up spraying less. The overall result of this was a loss of some volume but it had no effect on quality. After the rains though, the summer was generally dry and warm although without the heat spikes which affected the region in both 2023 and 2025, the grapes proceeded to ripen well and we’re harvested in good conditions. It’s important not to get too hung up on whether it’s slightly warmer or slightly cooler though, as Jean-Michel Vache told us ‘It’s hot every day here throughout the summer, every year.’