Rhône
The Rhône Valley, located in southeastern France, is renowned for its exceptional fine wines. With its diverse terroir, rich history, and dedication to quality winemaking, the Rhône Valley offers a captivating selection of wines that embody the region's elegance, complexity, and distinctive character.
The Rhône Valley boasts its own iconic vineyards and wineries, including Château de Beaucastel, Domaine Guigal, and Chapoutier, which are celebrated for producing exceptional wines that showcase the region's unique terroir and winemaking expertise.
The Rhône Valley is renowned for its red wines, particularly in the northern part of the region. Syrah reigns as the dominant grape variety, producing intense and structured wines. Appellations such as Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage, and Cornas are known for their robust and age-worthy reds, often displaying notes of black fruits, spice, and earthiness. Famous vineyards such as La Landonne, La Mouline, and Les Bessards are revered for their exceptional expressions of Syrah.
In the southern Rhône Valley, Grenache takes centre stage, contributing to the region's bold and fruit-forward red blends. The renowned appellation of Châteauneuf-du-Pape is famous for its rich and full-bodied red wines, often featuring a blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre. Vineyards like Château de Beaucastel, Clos des Papes, and Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe produce remarkable wines that showcase the region's commitment to excellence.
The Rhône Valley is also celebrated for its white wines, particularly in the northern part of the region. Viognier, Marsanne, and Roussanne are the key grape varieties, producing aromatic and complex whites. Appellations like Condrieu and Hermitage produce exceptional white wines known for their floral aromas, stone fruit flavors, and vibrant acidity.
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Rhône
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Jeb Dunnuck (94-96)
From a cooler terroir in the northern part of the appellation, the 2017 Cornas Les Eygats is another brilliant example of this wine and the vintage. Thrilling crème de cassis, blueberry, and blackberry fruit notes give way to more ground pepper, granite-like minerality and liquid violet notes with time in the glass. Deep, rich, incredibly sexy, and voluptuous, it has remarkable purity of fruit, a supple, layered, sexy texture, and no hard edges. It's a brilliant, brilliant wine from this great estate.د.إ1,355.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (98)
From a cooler parcel of pure granite soils, the 2018 Cornas Les Eygats is probably the most classic Cornas in the lineup (although these all have plenty of Cornas character) with its more mineral, iron, and almost bloody style. Loaded with massive amounts of blue and black fruits, violets, and crushed rock nuances, this full-bodied, multi-dimensional, seamless Cornas has polished tannins, flawless balance, and a monster of a finish. This broad, expansive, sexy Cornas should drink well for 20+ years.د.إ1,640.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (95)
The 2019 Saint Joseph Silice Blanc is a gorgeous white based on 100% Marsanne. Loads of stony mineral notes as well as white flowers and white currants define this full-bodied, rich, concentrated beauty. Remarkably pure, it offers subtle background oak, flawless balance, and a great, great finish. This is another head-turning wine from this incredible estate. Enjoy bottles over the coming decade.د.إ1,255.00 -
(6x75cl) 2019Decanter (97)
A particularly floral expression, with lavender and violets on the nose among the apricot fruit. Full-bodied, but still fluid on the palate, this has a real intensity and freshness, a sense of tension and minerality. Long finish that's not overburdened by oak. This has a sense of straightness and direction despite the breadth on the palate and open aromatic display. Very well balanced, finishing floral. Selection of parcels grown on biotite granite, vinified then aged nine months in barriques and foudres. Drinking Window 2021 - 2030د.إ947.50 -
The de Lorient Cornas La Cabane des Chasseurs 2021 is a quintessential French wine, originating from the revered Rhône region. Renowned for its robust, full-bodied taste, this fine wine provides a distinguished combination of red fruit layers, underscored by subtle smoky and earthy undertones. An expression of the traditional winemaking techniques, the wine is matured in French oak barrels for peak refinement.
Produced by the distinguished de Lorient estate, a trusted standard-bearer in Cornas, a commitment to quality is conceptualised in every bottle. Notably, the de Lorient Cornas La Cabane des Chasseurs 2021, is made from 100% Syrah grapes, hand-picked from the estate's vineyards. Nestled on the steep slopes, the vineyards' granite-rich soils and optimal sunlight exposure influence the grapes' defining characteristics.
As an epitome of expert craftsmanship and Rhône tradition, the de Lorient Cornas La Cabane des Chasseurs 2021 adds a deserving jewel to any restricted wine collection.
د.إ1,170.00 -
Vinous (93)
Dark purple. Expansive aromas of black and blue fruit preserves, smoky Indian spices and olive, with a suave floral nuance that gains strength with air. Deeply concentrated but energetic as well, offering palate-staining blueberry and violet pastille flavors and building spiciness. Rounded tannins add gentle grip to a strikingly long penetrating finish that clings with strong tenacity.د.إ672.00 -
Wine Advocate (97+)
Another killer Cote Rotie is the 2009 Cote Rotie la Landonne and it's a bigger, rich, more opulent version of the 2010. Raspberries, chocolate, exotic flowers, violets and ample minerality all give way to a full-bodied, seamless, layered 2009 that has massive mid-palate depth and a monster finish. Raised all in new oak, it should be drinkable at an earlier age than the '10, yet have a similar evolution.د.إ1,355.00 -
Wine Advocate (94)
One of the gems in the vintage is the 2013 Hermitage Domaine des Tourettes, which comes from both the Bessards and Grandes Vignes lieux-dits on Hermitage Hill. Completely destemmed, then vinified in stainless steel and concrete tanks, the wine is aged 18 months in 30% new French oak; it offers terrific notes of dark fruits, graphite and ample minerality in a full-bodied, layered, ripe profile. It’s more approachable than the Les Bessards, yet will still have three decades of longevity.د.إ1,415.00 -
Vinous (92)
Glass-staining ruby. Vibrant, mineral-accented dark fruit and floral pastille scents are complemented by hints of woodsmoke, allspice and incense. Juicy, penetrating and lively on the palate, displaying excellent vivacity and spicy lift to the gently sweet blackberry, cherry and spicecake flavors. Delivers a suave blend of power and finesse and finishes smoky and very long, with sneaky tannins coming in late.د.إ1,315.00 -
Vinous (95)
Opaque purple. Mineral-accented dark berries, candied licorice, olive paste, exotic spices and pungent flowers on the explosively perfumed nose. Deeply concentrated yet energetic black raspberry, spicecake, smoked meat and violet pastille flavors are complicated by vibrant mineral and dark chocolate notes that build on the back half. Sweet, sappy and sharply delineated on an extremely long, floral- and dark-fruit-driven finish that shows superb clarity and steadily building, harmonious tannins.د.إ2,695.00 -
Wine Advocate (98)
Boasting classic Les Bessards notes of sun-warmed cassis and crushed stone, the 2018 Hermitage Les Bessards has turned out to be a magnificent wine—a close rival to the potentially perfect 2015. Full-bodied and velvety, concentrated and tannic, overflowing with notes of grilled plums, grilled meat and black olives, it's all topped off by a forever finish that remains fresh and cleansing, courtesy of lingering salted-licorice flavors and the texture of finely ground stone dust. Try a bottle after 2025, if you can wait that long.د.إ3,095.00 -
Wine Advocate (99)
While I've had multiple looks at previous vintages, this is my first review of the 2018 Hermitage Ligne de Crete Les Grandes Vignes. Inky in hue, it boasts powerful, brooding aromas that include hints of hardwood charcoal, dark berries, licorice, crushed stone and pencil shavings. Full-bodied and almost painfully intense, it's a huge, mouthfilling wine that seems capable of aging up to three decades. Rich, supple and creamy in texture, yet possessing remarkable length and retronasal nuance, it has to rank up there with some of the Hermitage hill's classics from other, more renowned producers. It certainly deserves a seat at that table and may be a candidate for a perfect score in the future.د.إ5,340.00 -
Wine Advocate (99)
While I've had multiple looks at previous vintages, this is my first review of the 2018 Hermitage Ligne de Crete Les Grandes Vignes. Inky in hue, it boasts powerful, brooding aromas that include hints of hardwood charcoal, dark berries, licorice, crushed stone and pencil shavings. Full-bodied and almost painfully intense, it's a huge, mouthfilling wine that seems capable of aging up to three decades. Rich, supple and creamy in texture, yet possessing remarkable length and retronasal nuance, it has to rank up there with some of the Hermitage hill's classics from other, more renowned producers. It certainly deserves a seat at that table and may be a candidate for a perfect score in the future.د.إ3,395.00 -
Wine Advocate (96)
Almost 100% Grenache and produced from low-yielding vines (approximately 25 hectoliters per hectare) at the top of the hill of Cairanne, the 2016 Cairanne la Jean de Verde is a prodigious wine. It starts with scents of crushed stone and licorice, then expands on the plate to reveal crazy intense blueberry and blackberry flavors. Medium to full-bodied, it remains fresh, zesty and vivacious on the long finish. If you can track down some of the 5,000 bottles that were made, grab them. Because of extremely low yields, there is no 2017.د.إ1,310.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (94)
I loved the 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape from this brilliant team, and it should be snatched up by readers looking for a classic, impeccably made Châteauneuf du Pape to drink over the coming decade or more. Ripe black cherries, blackberries, Provençal garrigue, pepper, and Southern France street market-like nuances all emerge on the nose, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a seamless, elegant texture, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. Don't miss it. The blend is 70% Grenache and 15% each of Syrah and Mourvèdre.د.إ848.00 -
Wine Advocate (96-98)
A prodigious effort, the 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape Les Hautes Brusquieres Cuvee Speciale was yet to be bottled during my June visit. It offers up sweet floral aromas, hints of thyme and rosemary and bold cherry fruit. Full-bodied and creamy-velvety in texture, it's a hugely seductive mouthful of wine that I found difficult to spit. If it emerges from the bottling process looking like this, buyers will have huge smiles on their faces.د.إ1,050.00 -
Wine Advocate (96-98)
Superbly concentrated, the 2017 Chateauneuf du Pape Les Hautes Brusquieres Cuvee Speciale takes floral and tea-like complexities and layers them delicately over crisp raspberries and stone fruits. A blend of 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah, it's full-bodied, velvety and long, with an attractive briny note on the finish.د.إ1,410.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (97)
The 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape Cuvée Les Hautes Brusquières (60/40 Grenache and Syrah) comes from a cooler terroir near the Mount Redon plateau and was brought up in oak tronconique tanks and demi-muids. Its dense purple, almost opaque hue is followed by a brilliant perfume of mulled red and black fruits, peppery herbs, crushed stone, violets, and licorice. With full-bodied richness, a layered, multi-dimensional texture, and just about perfect tannins, it's another superstar wine from this estate that's up with the finest vintages to date.د.إ1,305.00 -
Wine Advocate (96-98+)
Verging on surmaturité, the 2017 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Vieilles Vignes turns the volume up to 11, yet I couldn't help but be captivated by its nuance at the same time. Immensely concentrated raspberries, cherries and a hint of dark chocolate emerge on the nose of this blend of 90% Grenache and 10% Mourvèdre, joined by hints of Asian five spice and salted licorice. From the lieux-dits of la Crau (sud) and Cristia, it's full-bodied and hugely powerful (16% alcohol), yet it retains a sense of freshness and elegance on the long, silky-textured finish. Wow!د.إ1,410.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (94-96+)
The quality of the Cuvée Vieilles Vignes has soared over the past 4-5 years, and while older vintages has a touch of austerity and rusticity, new releases show more balance, polished tannins, and finesse, while still showing classic old vine Grenache power. The 2018 Châteauneuf Du Pape Cuvée Vieilles Vignes (90/10 Grenache and Mourvèdre) boasts a deep purple color to go with full-bodied richness, building tannins, lots of cassis and black raspberry fruit, and complex notes of garrigue, pepper, and violets. I’d put this up with the top wines in the vintage.د.إ1,085.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (97)
The 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape Cuvée Vieilles Vignes (90% Grenache and 10% Mourvèdre) comes all from the stony, pebbly soils of La Crau and was brought up in tank and demi-muids. Ripe black cherry fruits, iodine, ground pepper, and bloody, meaty nuances all emerge on the nose, and it's full-bodied, with a seamless, multi-dimensional texture, ultra-fine tannins, and a rock star of a finish. It's just a brilliant, elegant, pure, lengthy wine that does everything right. Drink this classic, traditional, structured wine over the coming two decades.د.إ1,645.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (100)
The inky colored 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Reine des Bois is a match for the otherworldly 2001 and is a magical wine that couldn’t be any better. Based on 75% Grenache and the balance Mourvèdre, Syrah, Vaccarèse, and Counoise, raised in tank and neutral barrels, its inky black color is followed by an awesome perfume of blackberries, smoked earth/charcoal, licorice, graphite, and garrigue. Deep, full-bodied, with a huge mid-palate, a seamless texture, and serious tannins, it has the purity as well as depth that makes this vintage so compelling. This modern-day legend needs 3-4 years of cellaring and is capable of lasting for 15-20 years.د.إ2,335.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (97)
Coming from a tiny 1.5-hectare portion of clay and limestone soils and all old vine Grenache, the 2018 Gigondas La Colline is another gorgeous wine from this estate that strikes a balance between richness and elegance. More ruby-hued (these wines are never the deepest hued in Gigondas) and with a killer perfume of kirsch liqueur, framboise, herbes de Provence, chocolate, roasted herbs, and chalky minerality, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, ultra-fine tannins, no hard edges, and a gorgeous, heady finish. This cuvée is almost always the more powerful and concentrated in the lineup, yet in 2018 it shows the more elegant, seamless style of the vintage beautifully. It’s going to benefit from a year or two of bottle age and drink fabulous well for a decade.د.إ1,120.00 -
Wine Spectator (96)
This is nicely packed, with a range of dark plum, boysenberry preserve and cherry pate de fruit flavors pumping through, all carried by fine, racy and thoroughly imbedded chalky minerality. The structure lets the fruit play out while additional floral, tea and anise notes swirl in on the finish. A beauty. Drink now through 2036.د.إ1,530.00 -
Wine Advocate (95-97)
More finesse-oriented than the blockbuster style La Colline release, the 2015 Gigondas le Lieu Dit is another Grenache-dominated wine that comes from a cooler, late parcel of sandy soils located just beside the estate. Notes of strawberries, raspberries, crushed flowers, kirsch and spice all emerge from this full-bodied, utterly seamless, pure and gorgeously balanced beauty that doesn’t have a hard edge to be found. It will drink well for 10-15 years or more.د.إ1,635.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (100)
The 2019 Gigondas Le Lieu-Dit is as good as it gets – hats off to the young Julien Brechet for one of the finest Gigondas ever made. Coming from a cooler, sandy terroir next to this estate and all Grenache, it was 70% destemmed and spent 18 months in used demi-muids before being moved to concrete tanks prior to bottling. A Grand Cru Red Burgundy-like array of wild strawberries, framboise, flowers, sappy green herbs, and spice all emerge on the nose. This is followed by a seamless, full-bodied, incredibly pure Gigondas that’s more about finesse and elegance than sheer power. I love it today, yet it has the balance, as well as structure, to benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age and keep for two decades if stored properly.د.إ1,450.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (96+)
All Mourvèdre brought up in old demi-muids, the 2018 Gigondas Le Plateau is a stunning example of this variety that does everything right. Classic Mourvèdre notes of blueberries, mulberries, new leather, lavender, and ground pepper give way to a full-bodied, beautifully balanced, elegant 2018 that has stacked mid-palate, flawless balance, silky tannins, and a great finish. It shows more tannins and structure with time in the glass, so give this beauty 2-3 years of bottle age, it should have 15-20 years of overall longevity.د.إ1,095.00 -
Wine Spectator (96)
This shows a prominent leather-wrapped and cassis-soaked rosemary flavor profile, while bitter cherry and plum fruit notes make a bid for attention. The finish is paved with warm stone and smoldering garrigue accents, along with a long, lingering tobacco edge. A Bandol-esque version of Gigondas. Mourvèdre, Syrah, Cinsault, Grenache and Clairette. Best from 2025 through 2040.د.إ933.00 -
Wine Advocate (95-97)
There's no doubt that this cuvée is among the very best Syrahs bottled in the Southern Rhône. The 2018 Gigondas les Routes (from a vintage that favored Grenache) is perfumed and floral, with prominent violet notes joining hints of potpourri, garrigue and licorice. Blueberries and mint appear on the full-bodied palate, which delivers concentrated fruit flavors without any sense of excess weight, finishing long, lively and silky.د.إ1,100.00 -
Decanter (95)
The original blended Domaine des Bosquets Gigondas is now available in two cuvées: Font des Bosquets (young vines, shorter ageing, no oak) and Réserve (older vines, 14 plots vinified separately including fruit from the top single vineyard sites, maturation in different types of oak for 18 months depending on the variety). The result is an extraordinary exercise in elegance, beautifully silky tannins and deeply vinous fruit. This is long, shapely and tapered with depth, freshness, elegance, and a seamless character. If the alcohol was marginally better integrated this would possible score higher. It's quite an expressive, almost showy wine, but it will be excellent when it's ready. Not as strongly characterful as each of the single vineyard expressions, but better balanced, and more quintessentially Gigondas. In organic conversion.د.إ900.00
