#TheRhôneTouch - Art, Food and Wine

Opening night at The Rhône Touch; 21-31 July, 2016 at Platform Theatre Foyer and Bar, Central Saint Martins, Handyside street, King's Cross, London N1C 4AA

Rhone wines' traditional summer event has taken in everything from rugby to punk gigs; this year, we are brought The Rhone Touch, a week-long combination of food, art and Rhone wines at Platform Theatre in the newly-funky riverside area at the back of King's Cross station.

Guided by Douglas Blyde, I tried some of the wines - and a picnic glass.

Whites, a minority in the Rhone, have a distinctive substantial waxiness; the reds in the Southern Rhone are blendss and start with Cotes du Rhone, then CdR Villages, CdR Villages with a specified village and finally simply the village name.

Whites
Chateau de Montfaucon, Comtesse Madeleine 2014 (£15) CdR Marsanne blend, ripe and substantial with fresh orchard fruit. Good.

E. Guigal Condrieu Guigal, 2014 (£N/A) fresh, zippy, honeyed, waxy and textured; long and elegant. Good.

Three interesting CdR-level wines; the packaging for the Vidal-Fleury is rather old school while new producer Xavier Vins has a more eye-catching approach.

Reds - CdR
Vidal-Fleury, 2013 (£12) fresh dark berries, supple texture; long and substantial with fine, slightly grippy tannins. Good.

Xavier Vins, 100%, 2012 (£N/A) Grenache blend: concentrated and inky with dark fruit and sweet spice; still tight with some grip. Supple and long. Good.

Xavier Vins, SM, NM (£N/A) Syrah/Grenache: feral with dark fruit, green herbs, spice and freshness, supple. Good.

CdR Villages
Sablet's sandy soils give the village its name, and impart a distinctive character to the wines.

CdRV Sablet Domaine des Pasquiers, 2014 (£15) Grenache blend, feral nose, fresh and juicy, soft and harmonious. More Beaujolais than the Rhone - and long.

CdRV Chusclan Laudun Chusclan Vignerons, Les Genets, 2015 (£N/A) GSM+ blend, supple and fresh with dark fruit and spice; long and substantial. Good.

CdRV Signargues M. Chapoutier, 2014 (£12.50) Grenache/Syrah: warming and spicy, ripe dark berry fruit, spice and freshness, concentrated. Good.

In the northern Rhone, reds are all 100% Syrah.

The North - Crozes-Hermitage
Domaine Paul Jaboulet Aine, Les Jablets, 2014 (£18) complex red and dark berries and spice, fresh. Very Good.

Vidal-Fleury, 2013 (£19) red and dark berry fruit, spice, freshness, supple and substantial texture. Very Good.

The North - Saint-Joseph
Cave de Tain, Esprit de Granit, 2013 (£N/A) complex spice and berries, minerality supple with fine but assertive tannins. Very Good.

E. Guigal, Saint-Joseph Guigal, 2013 (£N/A) red and dark berries, green herbs; supple, fresh, long and concentrated. Very Good.

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