2022 Southern Rhône - En Primeur Offer

This a lovely vintage to dive into. The North edges the South but only just, it is a vintage that may require some patience for the bigger reds of the south, but the Saint-Joseph and Côte-Rôties in the North are absolute knock outs with beautifully pure & elegant fruit. I am a big fan of the wines of Madeline Ferran at Escaravailles, these offer great value, my favourite pick of my recent tastings was the amazing 2022 Roaix produced by the mercurial Elodie Balme, but also Lionnet in Cornas is worth a mention as are the wines of all out Châteauneuf-du-Pape producers, and last but by no mean least the wines of the ever thoughtful and meticulous Thierry Faravel at Bouïssière are very engaging in 2022.

Southern Rhône Map

2020 Vintage Report

2020 could be described as a vintage of great balance, both North and South.

The growing season was as good as one would want, perhaps more rain would be welcome, small steady downpours rather than the monstrous dumps that some saw in 2019 then no more for the year, but by common consensus 2020 was a lovely vintage and, all in all, there was a lot to be happy about.

In the North the past 4 of 5 vintages, whilst all superb, saw alcohol levels starting to creep up with long, warm days becoming more normal but with 14-14.5% and super ripe fruit. The 2020 in the South is a really fresh and balanced vintage, early flowering was particularly good, setting up an abundant vintage and with good early season rain in the ground, to offset the lack of rain during a long dry summer, coupled with cool evenings didn't prove problematic and there were no real temperature spikes.

In summary, the 2020 vintage both North & South is outstanding and the wines are really balanced, elegant & pure.

Reviews

Jeb Dunnuck
‘The 2020s appear to be pure, elegant, medium to full-bodied wines that excel on their balance and freshness while still showing beautiful depth of fruit.’
‘The 2020s are reminiscent of the 2012s, 2006s, and maybe 2000s in terms of style, and I suspect these wines will shine right out of the gate yet also evolve gracefully on their balance.’

Matt Walls, Decanter
'Fresh, juicy and immediate reds with lower alcohol than recent years, though some lack concentration. Beautiful white wines.'
'The vintage conditions and resulting wine style largely echoed those of the Northern Rhône in 2020, with wines being fairly accessible when young and white wines being particularly exceptional.'

Arrival in the UK

Many of the wines featured in this offer are already in the UK and are available for immediate delivery. The wines from some domaines are still to be bottled over the autumn, and will physically be with us by Spring 2023. Please do ask for account manager for further clarification.
This is an opportunity to secure the wines at the lowest possible price before they reach the general market. We guarantee you will find some exciting options for your cellar.

Prices: This is a primeur offer - all prices are quoted IN BOND per case (case sizes as stated).

Terms of the Offer

ORDERING VIA OUR WEBSITE:

  • Click on the 'ORDER' button to add cases to your Wishlist order form. The Wishlist appears in both the sidebar and header (separately from the main basket).
  • You can view and edit your Wishlist at any time before submitting the order form.
  • Submit your Wishlist order form with your details and please indicate any special requirements in the notes, including whether you would like the wines duty paid.
  • We will respond as quickly as possible with confirmation of your order and your invoice.

Please note that certain wines are on very tight allocations and will first be offered to customers who buy across the range. If you have any queries, please email our primeurs team or speak to your usual L&S contact.

ORDERING VIA EMAIL:

Please feel free to email us your Wishlist at any time. This list can include wines listed as available on the website, as well as those marked 'To Be Advised'. We will reply as soon as possible with confirmation of what we can offer.

STORAGE OPTIONS:

Wines bought en primeur are scheduled to arrive in the UK over the course of the next eighteen months. If you do not wish to take home delivery, you may wish to consider where you would like the wines shipped on arrival in the UK. Lea & Sandeman offers duty paid and in bond storage through a dedicated storage company called Elephant Storage. For more details on the terms and fees associated with storage please go to our Storage Homepage or contact our primeurs team for more information.

While helpful, we do not require a firm commitment on delivery destination to process your primeur order at this stage. Our team will be in contact with you when your wines arrive in the UK to confirm the necessary delivery details.

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RHÔNE PRIMEUR FAQ

OFFER: All wines are offered subject to availability and final confirmation.

PRICING: All prices are quoted IN BOND ex-VAT, by the case size stated. Please double check that the desired case size does match what is being offered as wines are variously listed in threes, sixes, dozens, halves and larger formats.

DELIVERY - TIMING: This is a primeur offer so the wines are not yet physically available for delivery. They will be shipped to the UK over the next eighteen months. Generally wines are shipped to your nominated location once the whole order has landed in our London City Bond account. If you require wines to be delivered by a certain date, please advise us at the time of ordering.

DELIVERY - FEES: In bond delivery to an Elephant Storage account (for more information see 'Storage Options' opposite) is free of charge. Transfer of wines to any third party bond (i.e. not Elephant Storage) will incur an administration charge of £16.50 + VAT for all orders under £500. If you require wines duty paid, please indicate this in your Wishlist order form. A duty & VAT invoice will be raised once all the wines on your order are available for shipment. Once the relevant duty & VAT has been settled, we will ship the wines to your nominated address as per our normal duty paid Delivery Terms.

PAYMENT: All orders will be invoiced for immediate payment by cheque, cash, debit card or cleared funds to our account. We regret that we cannot accept credit cards for primeur orders. We reserve the right to apply a dunning charge of 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.