Xavier Vignon 2020 Côtes du Rhône

Having seen the pendulum swing from big, bold wines to fresh, sometimes almost austere styles, I do wonder whether there will be another swing back to rich, dense wines at some point in the future.

When I wrote recently about the slimming of Chardonnay styles, I was struck by how many people bothered to comment on ft.com that they actually preferred the old, buttery Chardonnays to the new steely ones.*

If ever people wanted to return to luscious, full-bodied reds at a great price and with lots of interest, I suggest they get to know Xavier Vignon. After consulting in Bordeaux and Champagne, he has more than 15 years’ experience as an oenologist in the southern Rhône, advising 250 producers including the likes of La Nerthe, La Vieille Julienne and La Mordorée.

He has done a total of 34 vintages around the world – including in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and California, obviously doing two vintages a year sometimes. His UK importer Graft claims, ‘this breadth of experience, combined with his deep local knowledge, has earned him a reputation as a “terroir hunter” with an unusually sharp eye for site selection and soil expression. Below is one of his favourite vineyards. 

‘His own winemaking project started as a side-venture, using barrels and wine he received as partial payment from clients. Over time, it evolved into a full-scale operation, with wines now exported to more than 30 countries.’ The Côtes du Rhône 2020 red I am recommending as wine of the week today, for instance, has a listing in France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Switzerland, the US, Canada and Hong Kong on Wine-searcher.com. 

In the UK the wine is available from Bouquet Wine Cellars of Little Eaton for £18 online, and also online from Corkage at £22.50 (I'm assured by UK importers Graft that Corkage have the 2020 even though the 2019 is illustrated on their website) and from North and South online at £189.77 a dozen. Bournes, High Ground and State of Love & Trust also stock it apparently, but don’t sell online.

I first came across this wine via a random bottle left by our son in the wine rack in our French house and wrote this enthusiastic tasting note. This was a 2020 Côtes du Rhône with a well disguised 15% alcohol. But the bottle of 2020 Côtes du Rhône sent to me in London by Graft had a different label, the one shown below, and was ‘only’ 14.5% so it seems as though he makes several cuvées. You can get some idea of him and his wines via his evocative website.

My tasting note on the bottling available in the UK reads: 

Full, embossed bottle all of 1,389 g. 60% Grenache, 25% Mourvèdre, 20% Syrah from 'carefully selected' plots in the appellation. Slow fermentation. Aged for 12 months in 80% concrete tank and 20% in old oak barrels. This is presumably a different cuvée from the one I tasted before which had a more sober label and was 15% alcohol.
Shaded garnet with a pale ruby rim. Heady, smooth, rich nose. Real integrity on the palate entry with some salinity and real savour on the palate. Finishes dry and neatly. This seems a little more refreshing than the other 2020 I reported on. Really quite racy and lighter than the one tasted earlier. Transparent and not that unlike Ch Rayas actually! So much more interesting and fresh than most reds with this appellation. Positively Pinot-like! VGV 17/20 Drink 2023-2029

This is a very well-priced mature five year-old red that would give many a new-wave Grenache a run for its money.

I also tasted the other three Xavier Vignon wines currently imported into the UK (he makes a massive array of wines including several Châteauneufs). The white Petit Xavier 2024 (RRP £17.95) is a Sauvignon Blanc-dominated blend that would be very welcome on a hot day in Languedoc but is hardly distinctive in an international context. Much more exciting and distinctive is the red Petit Xavier NV (RRP £18.95) that tastes really quite mature and alluring and clearly contains some pretty evolved wine. It’s a 50:50 blend of Grenache and Syrah apparently but the Grenache definitely dominates.

There’s also a Côtes du Rhône Villages 2020 called La Fondation de la Mer (RRP £24.45) that is, like its stablemates, very well made, with some extremely old Grenache vines playing a part, but at the moment is much less distinctive, and more like many other wines from the same appellation, than the other two reds.

I’m rather ashamed of not coming across Xavier Vignon before. I see that our team of tasters covering southern Rhône new releases have tasted his wines blind and have not been thrilled by them. Perhaps because they are so rich and ripe. But from the wines I recommend above, I think they offer a huge amount of well-balanced pleasure per penny.

One black mark though: the two Côtes du Rhône bottles embossed in a sort of Châteauneuf-like way are too heavy.

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*Do you prefer the old, buttery styles of Chardonnay to the newer steely ones? Let us know on our forum!

See this guide to our extensive coverage of Rhône 2020.

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Rhône 2020 southern Rhône red wine

Jancis Robinson