Tuesday featured a grazing-style tasting in the Opus hotel showcasing the four members of the Rhone Gang (three producers plus a merchant) which was impossible to pass up. The charismatic, energetic and dapperly styled crew is behind Chateaux – Montfaucon, St. Cosme, and Pesquié, as well as Avitus – a wine merchant company which blends and sells wine from all three. These guys bring serious passion and fun energy and are backing beautiful wines all focussed on the Rhône Valley of France. 

The Rhone Gang is:

Rodolphe de Pins – Château de Montfaucon
Louis Barruol – Château de St Cosme
Frederic Chaudiere – Château Pesquié
Arnaud de la Chanonie – Avitus

The Wines Poured:

Château de Montfaucon: Viognier ’07, Marsanne ’07, Côtes du Rhône Rouge ’06, “Baron Louis” Côtes du Rhône 05/98, Monsieur Le Baron ’07
Château Pesquié: Viognier ’07, “Les Terrasses” Rosé, “Les Terrasses” Rouge ’07, “La Quintessence” Rouge ’07, “Artemia” Rouge ’04
Chateau Saint Cosme: Côte du Rhône Blanc ’07, Côtes du Rhône Rouge ’07, Gigondas ’07, Gigondas Valbelle ’07, Gigondas Les Claux ’07, Saint Joseph ’06, Chateauneuf-de-Pape ’05, Côte Rôtie ’07
The Rhone Gang: Hold Up ’07 (blend of Burgundian Pinot Noir with Rhône Grenache), Wanted ’05

Here’s some quick notes (as I was scrawling on the tasting sheet) on my favourites:

Château de Montfaucon “Baron Louis”  Côtes du Rhône 05
Meatier, smokier and spicier on the nose than the basic Côtes du Rhône – with a beautifully rich fruitiness as well. Big tannins on the palate but a great amalgamation of spice, oak and ripe red fruits. Very good. This wine is good value at $29.99 and will get softer and more complex over the next few years as it ages as evident by the ’98 of the same label (think much softer and silkier with baking spices, raspberries and chocolate).

Chateau Saint Cosme Côte du Rhône Blanc ’07
A nose that hits you with minerality and spiced pears. The palate floods with a fat rich mouthfeel but balanced nicely with crisp acidity – white peach notes and a nice lemony finish. $27.99 – Now isn’t that SO much more interesting and more versatile with food than the California Chard you’d pay the same price for?

Chateau Saint Cosme Gigondas Les Claux ’07
A beautiful bright nose of red and purple fruits mixed with chocolate. This wine packs a lush rich mouth with a good amount of tannins and characters of tobacco, leather and again amazing pure fruit. I don’t think this wine is available, but at approx. $62.99 it would be a rarity for me to dish out that much for a bottle (possibly for your cellar as it could happily use some age).

Chateau Saint Cosme Côte Rôtie ’07
I haven’t been fortunate enough to taste many Côte Rôties in my life, so maybe it was novelty sake that this stood out as my overall favourite, but regardless… a smokey, very interesting pronounced floral nose with some herbaceousness. Huge acid and tannins! So meaty with sour purple fruit and an amazing long finish. Again, I don’t believe this is available. Approx. retail is $89.99.

I’ve tasted the Pesquié wines in the past, and once again they were showing beautifully. They consistently score big points from Parker as well as Vaynerchuk and are equally highly regarded across the pond from Jancis (if you care about these kind of things.) http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/a200903094.html - jancis on the newest vintages.

The amount of times I used “beautiful” or “beautifully” in my tasting notes is stupid, but surely a testament to the wines. Pickup some of them and see for yourself.

Thanks to Freehouse for putting this on