Down to a quirk of history, this tiny estate situated in the heart of Condrieu has its own appellation. And its history is long – château records date the property back to the early 1600s. Its fame has waxed and waned, and over the past century its wines ranged from fantastic to forgettable. From 1827 to 2011 it was owned by the Neyret-Gachet family, then it was bought by Artémis Domaines.

It might cover just 3.5ha, but it’s clearly a fabulous terroir – a steep, south-facing granite amphitheatre made up of small terraces, the Viognier vines (they only grow one variety here) are all trained on wooden stakes known as échalas.

The new owners promptly restructured the vineyards, converted the estate to biodynamics, refurbished the cellar and introduced a second wine, bottled under AOC Côtes-du-Rhône. More recently they purchased a few rows at the top of the amphitheatre that border the estate in AOC Condrieu, which is bottled separately under the name La Carthery.

It took a few years for the effects of these changes to be felt, but from the 2014 vintage the wines have been reliably excellent. The grand vin, known simply as Château-Grillet, is akin to the Condrieu wines made by neighbouring estates, but tends to be notably tense and mineral in style, and can be long lived.

The modern era of Cornas started in the 1950s, and few if any estates have performed with the same consistency as Domaine Clape. Today it’s managed by Pierre and, increasingly, his son Olivier.

In terms of style, little has changed since Pierre’s father Auguste was in charge. They are unflinching traditionalists, fermenting whole bunches in raw concrete tanks with indigenous yeasts, then maturing the wines for 2 years in small old wooden foudres in a dark cellar that’s thick with black mould under a terraced house in the heart of Cornas.

They have enviable parcels of old vines across the original Cornas slope, including Sabarotte, Patou, Tézier, Mazards, La Côte, and some 100-year-old vines in Reynards – the dark heart of the blend. The grand vin is usually accompanied by a second wine called Renaissance that was introduced in 1997. The style here is deeply savoury, with serrated tannins and elemental power. If they didn’t make Cornas, they’d be famous for their exceptional Saint-Péray.

If there’s one name that’s more closely associated with Condrieu than any other, it has to be Georges Vernay. He took over the domaine from his father François Vernay in 1953, when the Condrieu vineyard had dwindled to just 7ha following the Second World War. He rallied his winegrowing neighbours to keep the appellation alive – and, thanks to him, Viognier now thrives not just here but all over the world.

He handed the estate over to his daughter Christine in 1996, who until that point had been a teacher. She has a calm, thoughtful presence and works meticulously in both vineyard and cellar – and now she is gradually sharing her secrets with her daughter Emma.

This is one of the rare estates in Condrieu that is certified organic. It’s hard to find people willing to weed these slopes by hand. But Christine has proved that it’s possible.

All three Condrieu cuvées are excellent: Les Terrasses de l’Empire is a blend of many small parcels; Les Chaillées d’Enfer is made of two 50-year-old south-facing parcels on biotite granite in a more imposing, assertive style; their top cuvée, Coteau de Vernon, is a single-vineyard wine from the best lieu-dit in Condrieu which has dazzling intensity and salinity.

They might be famous for whites, but don’t ignore their reds – their Côte-Rôties in particular have exquisite finesse and balance, but their Saint-Josephs and even their IGP Syrahs are impressively refined.

When it comes to the wineries of France, a century or two of history is not unusual. But for an estate to be passed down from one generation to the next since 1481 – that deserves a degree of wonder. The Chave family originally started making wine in Saint-Joseph; it was only after phylloxera, when the noble landowners were abandoning the slopes of Hermitage that they managed to get a foothold on this sacred hill.

Jean-Louis is a meticulous winemaker and a deep thinker. But for winemaking royalty, he is remarkably personable and down-to-earth. The family home is in Hermitage, but the winery is in the village of Mauves on the west bank of the river. The courtyard is dominated by a titanic horse chestnut tree; underneath lies the cellar. It gives birth to some of the finest wines in the world.

He's committed to a traditional approach, which for him means destemming the crop (he says this was historically done by hand in Hermitage before destemming machines) and blending his Hermitage from parcels across the Hill. His main output therefore is one red Hermitage and one white. He does however make a special cuvée of red Hermitage in top vintages called Cuvée Cathelin; it is also is a blend, the components changing to suit the vintage. And let’s not forget his sweet white Hermitage Vin de Paille.

His gift to future generations will be restructured Saint-Joseph vineyards, and bottled proof of just how good top Saint-Joseph can be. His Clos Florentin, from a vineyard near Mauves, is unquestionably among the greatest wine from this extensive appellation.

This leading estate situated high in the hills above Ampuis was established by Joseph Jamet in 1950; his sons Jean-Paul and Jean-Luc joined him in the 1970s. In 2013, however, the brothers went their separate ways and established their own operations.

Whereas Jean-Luc embraced new barrels, Jean-Paul continued working in a determinedly traditional fashion – avoiding new oak, using whole bunch fermentation and opting for relatively light extraction. The resulting wines have great clarity, purity, freshness and complexity.

Almost all Jean-Paul’s plots are on schist towards the northern half of the appellation, and his parcels can be found on top lieux-dits such as La Côte Blonde, La Landonne, Fongeant and Chavaroche. Most of the output here goes into their Côte-Rôtie classique, blended across the hillside. He has always made a pure Côte Brune however, which is consistently among the very best wines of the appellation. A more recent addition is Fructas Voluptas, a more accessible Côte-Rôtie that partly includes purchased fruit and is mostly destemmed.

Their Condrieu (named Vernillon as it’s a blend between lieux-dits Vernon and Côte Chatillon) is unique at the time of writing in that it’s matured exclusively in clay amphorae. Jean-Paul is gradually handing over winemaking responsibility to his son Loïc – a safe pair of hands.

Domaine Pierre Gonon (Saint-Joseph)

A rising star? Not any more – Domaine Gonon is now considered one of the very best estates – if not THE best estate – in Saint-Joseph. Twenty years ago, that might have sounded like faint praise, but not anymore – it might be a large appellation, but there are exceptional pockets of terroir that winemakers like the Gonon brothers craft into stunning creations.

Their father Pierre was one of the first to bottle Saint-Joseph in 1964, and his sons Pierre and Jean now manage the estate after having joined him in the late 1980s. They now organically cultivate 10.5ha, principally close to the winery in Mauves, and also just north in Tournon and Saint-Jean-de-Muzols.

Their red Saint-Joseph is blended across these sites; their white Saint-Joseph from the lieu-dit Les Oliviers, which is famed for the quality of its Marsanne. They also make a thirst-quenching IGP Chasselas and a particularly fine IGP Syrah called Les Iles Féray. Their Saint-Joseph cuvée Vieilles Vignes, made from 1920s Syrah once owned by local legend Raymond Trollat, is a bona fide Rhône unicorn.

Thierry Allemand doesn’t hail from a long line of vignerons – he’s the first in his family to work in wine. He started out by working under Cornas legend Robert Michel, and eventually Allemand’s father bought Thierry some vines in 1982. He worked tirelessly to increase his holding, and now owns 5ha across a number of plots in Cornas. He is currently passing on responsibilities to his son Theo.

They work organically, ferment whole bunches and avoid use of new oak; wines are aged on the lees for two years without racking. The estate quickly gained a following primarily in the Natural wine scene for his sans souffre (no added sulphites) cuvée. His last vintage for this bottling was 2014.

Sulphite additions for their other wines are kept to a minimum. Cuvée names can be misleading, as they are named after lieux-dits but aren’t strictly speaking single vineyard wines. Chaillot is their young vine cuvée; Reynard is a bottling of their old vines.

They can be wonderfully fresh, detailed and expressive examples of Cornas, though perhaps not as reliably ageworthy into the long term as some of their neighbours.

If you visit the annual Côte-Rôtie tasting at the heart of the region every January known as the Marché d’Ampuis, you’ll undoubtedly see a very long queue for one of the stands. No prizes for guessing which. Demand for Yves Gangloff’s wines has exploded in recent years, making them very difficult to come by.

Yves, who has the look and charisma of an ageing French rockstar, visited Ampuis in 1978 to see his brother. Falling in love with a local woman, he decided to stay – so he needed to find a job. So he took a position as a vineyard worker for Delas.

He was lucky to buy land when it was still cheap, and gradually amassed 3.3 ha in Côte-Rôtie, 2.5ha in Condrieu and 2.5ha in Saint-Joseph, making both red and white. He makes two Côte-Rôties, largely destemmed, which undergo short macerations and brief élevage in barriques, around 15% new oak.

His Côte-Rôties are among the most elegant and refined wines of the Northern Rhône, and are worth the effort that it takes to find them.

The story of Delas began with a different wine merchant. The now-defunct Maison Junique, based in Tournon, was purchased in 1835 by Charles Audibert and Philippe Delas, who renamed it Audibert & Delas. In 1924, Henri and Florentin Delas took over the company, which they rechristened Delas Frères. More recently, in 1997 the company was bought by the Champagne Louis Roederer group. Since then, every part of the business has been strengthened – winemaking team, estate, winery – to reclaim its place as one of the premier Rhône negociant houses. On top of their negociant business, they own 10ha in Hermitage, 2ha of Saint-Joseph and 18ha in Crozes-Hermitage, which since 2017 is all farmed organically (without certification). Arguably Hermitage is its strongest appellation, with two single-vineyard expressions: a brooding Les Bessards; and Ligne de Crête, an elegant expression of lieu-dit Les Grandes Vignes, the highest point of the hill.

Based in Ampuis, E Guigal has had a huge influence on the style and fortune of modern Côte-Rôtie. Established in 1946 by Etienne Guigal, the company is still family owned, and today it’s controlled by his son Marcel and grandson Philippe, who is also the chief winemaker. E Guigal is a negociant house producing wine across numerous Rhône appellations, including over 4m bottles per year of Côtes-du-Rhône. It is also a significant landholder, and it owns several related businesses such as negociant Vidal-Fleury, Domaine de Bonserine in Côte-Rôtie, Château d’Aqueria in Tavel and Château de Nalys in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It’s best known for it single-vineyard Côte-Rôties, which are informally known as the La-Las: La Mouline, La Turque and La Landonne. A fourth has recently been established, which will be known as La Reynarde. They are famous for their long élevage: 42 months in new oak barriques.

Established in 1946 by Jean Orëns Ferraton, his son Michel eventually took over the business and started a negociant arm. Michel’s son Samuel then joined the business, but, following an accident in 2007, it was sold to family-friend Michel Chapoutier. It is still run as a separate entity, and Damien Brisset has been head winemaker since 2005. Today the company owns 18ha, including 3ha in Hermitage (lieux-dits Les Diognières, Le Méal and Les Beaumes). The focus today is on developing their range of Saint-Josephs: their single vineyard reds Paradis and Bonneveau and white Les Oliviers are evidence of their success. Cornas is another area of strength.

A relative newcomer among the larger negociant houses of the Rhône, Les Vins de Vienne was established in 1996 by Pierre Gaillard, Yves Cuilleron and François Villard. Unusually, their main strength is the proto-appellation of Vienne Seyssuel (currently a group of three communes within the larger IGP Collines Rhodaniennes which is aiming for promotion to cru). It produces three wines from this terroir: Sotanum, a pure Syrah; Taburnum, a pure Viognier; and Heluicum, a lighter Syrah with a shorter élevage. They concentrate primarily on the Northern Rhône but also produce some Southern crus and Côtes-du-Rhône.

The family business was in the doldrums when it was taken over by Michel Chapoutier in 1990, who quickly turned its fortunes around. M Chapoutier is now one of the largest wine producers in the Rhône Valley. It makes wine in all the major appellations of the Northern Rhône, most of the Southern Crus and a whole host of more esoteric AOCs – and it’s highly adept at capturing a classic expression of the terroir in question. And let’s not forget the wines it produces in Alsace, Roussillon, Portugal, Australia… However it’s Hermitage that it’s best known for: M Chapoutier is the largest landholder on the Hill, with 34ha (over a quarter of the appellation surface) and it was the first to market a range of single-vineyard Hermitage wines, entitled the Sélections Parcellaires. Michel works closely today with his son Maxime and daughter Mathilde.

This large negociant house was established in 1834 by Antoine Jaboulet; Paul was the eldest of his twin boys. The business was kept in the Jaboulet family until 2005, at which point it was sold to the Frey family of Château La Lagune in Bordeaux. Caroline Frey took over winemaking duties in 2006. Thanks to her efforts, their estate vineyards were certified organic in 2016, and today they work according to biodynamic principals. They still produce some large-scale cuvées on a negociant basis, such as their Côtes-du-Rhône Parallèle 45 range. Historically, their most famous cuvée was Hermitage La Chapelle. Their prime Hermitage holdings have now been incorporated in a new estate named Domaine de la Chapelle, which will get its own winery.

Such is the dynamism of the Perrin family, owners of Château de Beaucastel and numerous other properties and brands around the Rhône and beyond, that anything written here will need rapidly updating. Current projects include a groundbreaking underground cellar complex, developing the Miraval range of wines with Brad Pitt and supplying Château de Beaucastel as a location for the new series of TV show Drops of God.

The estate, which is situated in the north-eastern edge of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, dates back to 1549 – but the current family bought it relatively recently, in 1909. They were early adopters of organic, then biodynamic, viticulture. Innovation is in the Perrin’s blood.

Unusually, Beaucastel’s 100ha of vines are all in one block around the winery itself; 70ha in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the other 30ha just outside the AOC boundary, so it’s bottled under AOC Côtes-du-Rhône.

The style here is bold, grand, architectural – but without sacrificing freshness and drinkability. Their red and white tradition bottlings are archetypical Châteauneuf. Their cuvées spéciales – a red called Hommage à Jacques Perrin and a white called Roussanne Vieilles Vignes – are like baroque palaces.

This is one of the three properties owned by Emmanuel Reynaud, along with Château Rayas in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Château de Tours in Vacqueyras. It’s situated in Lagarde-Paréol, which is technically within the AOC Côtes-du-Rhône Villages Massif d’Uchaux just north of Châteauneuf, but the wine is bottled under AOC Côtes-du-Rhône. A relatively lowly AOC perhaps – but the wine is anything but.

There are some similarities to Château Rayas: sandy soils, whole bunch fermentation, light extraction, no new oak. But there are also differences: it’s majority Grenache, but also contains 35% Cinsault and 15% Syrah. In certain years he bottles a pure Cuvée Syrah, and he also makes a white wine from 80% Grenache, 10% Clairette and 10% Marsanne. The reds are highly aromatic, spicy and enjoyable structured; the white is also very fine, if perhaps less distinctive than the red. The hand of Emmanuel Reynaud is apparent in all the wines he makes, and he weaves an inimitable magic in all three estates.

Louis Barruol is one of the more outspoken winemakers in the Southern Rhône. And having achieved so much to date in his career, he’s a man worth listening to. He’s been president of the Gigondas appellation, during which time he helped to establish a genetically diverse Grenache nursery and to get white Gigondas accepted by the INAO. He’s also put his family estate, Château de Saint Cosme, on the map as one of the leading estates in the Southern Rhône.

He took over from his father in 1992, but the estate itself dates back to 1490, and it’s built on Roman ruins, including old fermentation tanks, just outside the village of Gigondas. He also owns Château de Rouanne in Vinsobres, numerous other parcels around the Vaucluse, not to mention a négociant business. But it’s his three single-vineyard Gigondas cuvées that he’s best known for, all introduced in the mid-2000s: Le Poste, Le Claux and Hominis Fides. All are made from pure (or nearly pure) organically farmed old-vine Grenache, fermented with natural yeasts in concrete, then aged in barriques of various ages (all recent, some new). And all are fascinating, ageworthy expressions of this magical place.

There are few estates in the Rhône as storied as Château Rayas. It’s hidden away in the woods, where Emmanuel Reynaud and his sons craft wines that are in a style and class all of their own. It was established in 1880 by Albert Reynaud, a notary, who purchased the estate after going deaf at the age of 45. Emmanuel is understandably not keen to share quite how he manages to coax such complexity and texture from his Grenache.

What we do know is that he cultivates his tall bush vines organically on sandy soils, and both Château Rayas and its sibling Pignan (both named after the lieux-dits from which they come) are pure old-vine Grenache. He doesn’t destem the fruit, and opts for a very light extraction; the wines are then aged in large old barrels.

The result is a wine that pale in colour, relatively light in tannin, with a highly distinctive aroma of rose petals, blood orange, strawberry jam and dried herbs. Both Rayas and Pignan are spellbinding wines that once tasted, are never forgotten.

If you visit Châteauneuf-du-Pape – and the opportunity arises – don’t pass up a visit to Clos des Papes. With over 400 years of family winemaking history, and 23 plots planted with all 18 permitted varieties, Vincent Avril has a lot of wisdom to divulge. And he’s happy to share it – over a mature vintage or two if you’re lucky. Thanks to their finesse, balance and freshness, these are wines that age beautifully – the whites as well as the reds.

The estate has long been certified organic, and yields are always low – typically between 15 and 25hl/ha. He’s never been tempted to make a suite of cuvées spéciales, and sticks faithfully to his traditionalist vision of making a single red and a single white from this appellation. The reds are destemmed and aged in large old foudres; the whites don’t go through malolactic, and are aged in stainless steel. No matter the vintage, Clos des Papes never fails to create wines with something to say.

La Crau in Châteauneuf-du-Pape is often described as one of its finest terroirs; a vast raised plateau of galets roulés to the east of the village. The traditional approach is to blend across different soils and plots, but if you want a taste of pure Crau – to see what this terroir produces, and why it’s special – try a mature bottle of Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe. It’s drawn entirely from very old vines (70 to 100-year-old) grown on their 50ha of this exceptional zone.

The original land was bought by Henri Brunier in 1891, and it’s still owned by the same family today, and controlled by brothers Daniel and Frédéric Brunier. Their sons Edouard and Nicolas both joined the estate in the mid-2010s. Daniel and Frédéric are proudly independent and Daniel holds strong views on how Châteauneuf is best expressed: organic viticulture, no irrigation, and no cuvées spéciales are some of them. That this approach results in some fabulous wines is without doubt, in both colours.

As well as Vieux Télégraphe, they make other Châteauneufs, notably a red called Piedlong and an excellent white called Clos Roquète. They also have interests in Gigondas, Ventoux and even Lebanon. Their empire gradually expands, from the solid foundations of La Crau.

To describe Jérôme Bressy of Domaine Gourt de Mautens as a maverick is no exaggeration. When he took over the family vines in 1996, he promptly converted it to biodynamics and, instead of taking the crop to the local co-op, he started bottling it himself.

In 2010, when AOC Côtes-du-Rhône Villages Rasteau was promoted to AOC Rasteau, the INAO tightened the rules of production pertaining to grape varieties, and reduced the amount of ‘accessory’ local grapes allowed, such as Vaccarèse and Piquepoul Noir. Rather than changing his blend, Bressy dropped out of the appellation, labelling his wines as IGP Vaucluse ever since. And thus, the Rasteau appellation lost its star estate.

He has made various cuvées over the years, but now makes just one red and one white. (It’s a shame – his rosé was the finest pink wine I’ve ever tasted.) As the climate becomes more extreme, so do his creations. They are wines of great intensity, might and assertiveness that are unquestionably among the greatest wines of the Rhône Valley.

The jocular, salt-of-the-earth Henri Bonneau, who sadly passed away in 2016, was one of the greatest winemakers of his generation. He inspired many others, including luminaries such as Jean-Claude Vidal of Domaine du Banneret, Jérôme Bressy of Gourt de Mautens and Isabel Ferrando.

His 6.5ha estate was found mostly on La Crau, and consisted almost entirely of Grenache. He harvested late, didn’t destem his crop, fermented in concrete, and eschewed new oak and filtration. The wines matured for years in ancient barrels in a warren of tunnels dug out from under his terraced house in the village.

He made four Châteauneuf cuvées: his tradition; Cuvée Marie Beurrier, Réserve des Célestins – and a semi-sweet concoction called Cuvée Spéciale. He also made a Vin de France called Les Rouliers from vineyards in the Gard.

Since his death, the Bonneau estate has been controlled by his previous commercial distributor, Daniel Combin. Vintages made by Bonneau himself are still possible to track down, though they are becoming increasingly hard to find.