Northern Rhône 2023: The connoisseur's guide

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Northern Rhône overall vintage rating: 3.5 / 5 Fresh, supple and drinkable reds at the southern pole; more concentration in the northern reaches, making for some very fine Côte-Rôtie. Vibrant, fresh whites, particularly good in Hermitage.

Red wine of the vintage: Stéphane Ogier, Lancement, Côte-Rôtie 2023

White wine of the vintage: M Chapoutier, L'Ermite, Hermitage 2023

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Not a subscriber? Sign up today to read the Rhône Report and all Premium articles. Use the code RHONE2023 at checkout to get 20% off your first subscription. [subscriber-content]If 2023 was challenging in the southern Rhône , it was even more troublesome in the north. The decisive climatic incidents were essentially the same, but parts of the northern Rhône had additional problems to contend with. Despite this, there are some very good wines if you buy with care, with certain appellations performing better than others. Role reversal January to April was very dry, then May to August was wet – a reversal of normal rainfall patterns, which produced a big crop and rampant vegetation. It also brought about downy mildew and black rot outbreaks throughout the season, the wet weather lasting for longer here than it did in the south. Successive treatments were needed in the vineyard, and some areas suffered reduced yields as a result. According to Pierre Rostaing of Domaine Rostaing, mildew can give earthy, bitter notes to a wine, so careful sorting was required. Hail menaced the area throughout the summer. It hit different parts of St-Joseph in May, June and July; Cornas twice in July; and Crozes-Hermitage in August. The heatwave that came in the second half of August was very drawn-out. Jean Gonon of Domaine Gonon says they had temperatures of 40-42 ̊C for a fortnight. ‘We’ve never seen that during a two-week period before,’ he says. Reports of scorched foliage, sunburnt grapes and young vines dying in the heat were widespread. See all 400 Rhône 2023 tasting notes and scores Harvest contrasts ‘What was supposed to be a late vintage became an early vintage,’ says Maxime Chapoutier of M Chapoutier, as they rushed out to pick the whites. But some of the reds hung on until October. ‘Six weeks of harvest – a record for us,’ he says. I happened to be in the region to witness the storm of 18 September. The next day I tried to walk up the hill of Hermitage, but it was impossible. The foot of the hill was a mess of wooden posts, bits of vine, mud and rock, and the torrents of rain had cut deep ravines into the paths. According to Guillaume Sorrel of Domaine Marc Sorrel, 30mm of rain was forecast, but over 100mm fell. It caught many growers off guard, and he estimates that by that time only half of the hill had been harvested. Some vineyards on the slopes suffered superficial damage, but at least the rain runs off here; on the flat parts of Crozes-Hermitage, the rain had a diluting effect on some of the wines. In Côte-Rôtie, and the northern part of St-Joseph, the rain was much lighter, just 20mm according to Stéphane Ogier, ‘almost beneficial,’ he says. He finished picking on 11 October in ‘an Indian summer… everything we picked at the end was magnificent.’ The whites are the other big success this year, particularly in Hermitage, where the wines have depth, power and freshness. Read Matt Walls' full vintage overview Top northern Rhône producers in 2023 Benjamin & David Duclaux Domaine Clape Domaine Jean-Paul Jamet Domaine JL Chave Domaine Marc Sorrel Domaine Vincent Paris M Chapoutier Maison Stéphan Stéphane Ogier Yves Cuilleron [/subscriber-content] Top-scoring northern Rhône 2023 wines: Highest scoring wines are listed white, then red in score order. [wine-collection] Related articles Walls: A Côte-Rôtie with a Burgundian flourish Walls: A vertical of a great Cornas cuvée Walls: How to find value in the Rhône