THE RHONE FACES THE HEAT

ACROSS THE RHÔNE VALLEY, WINEMAKERS ADAPT TO RISING TEMPERATURES IN THEIR PURSUIT OF FRESH, VIBRANT WINES

- KRISTEN BIELER

When Isabel Ferrando experienced her first vintage in 2003 at her newly purchased St.Préfert estate in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, she was worried about the extreme heat. Her mentor, Henri Bonneau, one of the region's most revered vignerons, tried to put the inexperienced vintner at ease. "He told me not to worry," she says. "He assured me that 2003 was an unusually hot vintage and I would never see those conditions again."

Of course, Bonneau, who died in 2016, had no way of knowing how wrong he was. With two decades of winemaking under her belt in this increasingly hot region of southern France, Ferrando long ago stopped waiting for normal to return. "What is a normal year? I have never met a normal year. We have the capacity to adapt and we must work differently. I'm looking for purity, salinity and natural acidity in my wines, and this is becoming a challenge for the Rhône Valley to offer."

One of the hottest regions in France, Châteauneuf-du-Pape has always been about robust, soulful wines with generous fruit. Wine drinkers in search of delicacy and subtle refinement look to Burgundy or Piedmont. Craving luscious oomph, spicy earth and immediate pleasure? Head south to Châteauneuf, the Southern Rhône's most famous appellation, where vintners use the region's 13 grape varieties to craft extroverted reds and creamy, expressive whites.

But without freshness and the region's signature fingerprint of minerality and garrigue (the mix of wild herbs, such as lavender and rosemary, that are widespread here), these Grenache-based reds can easily swing out of balance. Overripeness (from heat) and overconcentration (from drought) can eradicate regional identity and acidity, so all that's left is alcohol and power.