The Winery Les Hermitants of Crozes-Hermitage of Rhone Valley

Tina Gellie, Content Manager and Regional Editor (Australia, South Africa, New Zealand & Canada) It was a big year of Decanter travel for me, heading to Napa and New York in June, South Africa in October and most recently a week each in Margaret River and South Australia. These trips have formed the basis of my festive selections. Christmas lunch on North Stradbroke Island (reunited with my family after four years, no thanks to Covid) always starts with oysters, followed by a bucket of prawn ...

In preparation for this column I tasted 46 reds in total, and – taking both quality and value into account – I can recommend 33 of them. Overall, the reds were less consistent than the whites, and although the lows were lower, the highs were higher. This tasting confirmed that it’s still possible to buy genuinely excellent northern Rhône reds for under £30 in the UK. That being said, it’s virtually impossible to find any Cornas, Côte-Rôtie or Hermitage for under £30 a bottle these days, but ther ...

In his Rhône 2020 vintage report Matt Walls found fresh, vibrant and deliciously drinkable wines across the Northern and Southern appellations, with many wines being approachable now. Given that many wines won’t last as long as previous vintages such as 2016, 2017 and 2019, this could make the 2020s great value picks for immediate drinking. Scroll down to see Matt’s best-value Rhône 2020 tasting notes and scores Walls noted that this is the freshest vintage for whites since 2014, so lovers ...