Rhone Rangers - Styles

Styles

While Northern Rhone wines are often monovarietal, Southern Rhône wines are almost always blends. Rhone Rangers wineries produce both varietal wines and blends depending on their stylistic preferences. Principal styles of red wines are:

  • "Châteauneuf-du-Pape" - (also known as GSM) various proportions of Grenache (for fruit and acidity), Syrah (for dark color, spice, and mineral) and Mourvedre (for tannin and structure), occasionally rounded out with minor amounts of other varieties to give complexity.
  • "Northern Rhone" - Syrah either 100% or blended with small amounts of Viognier.
  • Varietal - Grenache and Mourvedre, rarely found on their own in the Old World, are often produced as varietals by Rhone Rangers winemakers.
  • "Hot weather" - Grenache, Cinsault and Carignan in varying proportions for early drinking.
  • "Australian" - Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon

Principal styles of white wines are:

  • Varietal - The white Rhone varieties Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne, and increasingly Grenache blanc are produced as monovarietal wines by Rhone Rangers winemakers.
  • "Hermitage Blanc" - Marsanne-Roussanne is the classic Northern Rhone blend for whites.
  • "Châteauneuf-du-Pape" - Blends based on Roussanne and Grenache blanc, often with additions of other white Rhone varieties.

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