JL Chave Cotes-du-Rhône Mon Coeur 2024
We have 3 in stock (Inventory is live and accurate)
The Land
The Chave name is tied to the granite hill of Hermitage in the northern Rhône, but Mon Coeur comes from the other end of the valley. The southern Rhône is a different world: wide, sun-baked plains and terraces of limestone, clay, and river stones, Mediterranean heat, and the mistral, the cold north wind that dries the vines after rain and keeps disease in check. Grenache dominates here, ripening to generosity of fruit and alcohol that the cooler north rarely sees. Mon Coeur is assembled from several purchased parcels in this southern zone and blended to show what a Côtes du Rhône can be when someone from the north insists on freshness. It is Chave's take on Grenache country, filtered through a Syrah grower's sense of structure.
The Wine
JL Chave Côtes-du-Rhône Mon Coeur 2024 is a blend of Grenache and Syrah, historically close to equal parts, though the split shifts with the vintage. Recent vintages have been aged in used oak, which softens the tannin without adding vanilla. The Syrah gives black olive, violet, and pepper; the Grenache brings raspberry, kirsch, and garrigue. Expect a medium-bodied red with ripe dark berry fruit, fine-grained tannin, and a peppery, herbal finish. 2024 in the southern Rhône followed a very wet spring, with about 250 millimeters of rain in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, poor flowering and coulure in the Grenache, local mildew, a hot, dry late July and August, and September storms dried out by the mistral. Yields fell sharply, and the wines came out juicy, fresh, and moderate in alcohol.
The People
The Chave family has made wine in the Rhône since 1481, sixteen generations, first in Saint-Joseph and then on the hill of Hermitage after phylloxera. Jean-Louis Chave runs the domaine today and has been replanting the steep, abandoned Saint-Joseph terraces his ancestors once worked. Mon Coeur is not a domaine wine. It is négoce: Chave buys grapes from a small number of growers, then vinifies and blends the wine himself under the J.L. Chave Sélection label, a négoce side of the business that dates to 1995. He has been clear that it is a separate philosophy from the estate wines. Mon Coeur's first vintage was 1998, and for more than 25 years it has been the most affordable way into the thinking of one of France's most respected winemakers.
Food Pairing
Mon Coeur wants hearty, unfussy food. Braise lamb shoulder with garlic, rosemary, and white beans; the Syrah pepper matches the herbs and the fresh acidity keeps the fat in check. A grilled ribeye with herbes de Provence and a black olive tapenade plays to the wine's olive and garrigue side. Sausages and lentils with a mustard vinaigrette is a bistro classic that loves this kind of fruit and moderate tannin. For a vegetarian plate, roast eggplant with tomato, thyme, and melted Comté. This is the Rhône red to keep by the case for weeknight dinners that deserve better than average wine.
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The Rhône Valley is a diverse and historic wine region, divided into two distinct areas. The Northern Rhône is the birthplace of Syrah, with steep, terraced vineyards that produce some of the world's most revered wines, such as those from Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie. The Southern Rhône is much more expansive, offering a wider range of styles, but typically based around Grenache-based blends, with wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape known for their complexity and power. While the region is celebrated for its reds, it also produces incredible textured whites, and as a whole the region displays the spectrum of French wine and the incredible differences that can come from small geographic changes.
Rhone Valley
Red Blend is a catch-all for wines built from more than one red grape, a practice as old as winemaking itself and central to many of the world's most celebrated bottles. Blending lets a producer balance what a single variety cannot deliver alone: structure from one grape, perfume from another, flesh and color from a third. Bordeaux, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Rioja, and the old field blends of Portugal's Douro all fall under this umbrella, as do countless wines from growers who care more about the finished wine than about varietal labeling. Expect enormous range in style, from light and herbal to dense and age-worthy, depending entirely on origin and intent.
