Côte Rôtie "Côteaux de Bassenon" AOC 2020

The Côte Rôtie «Côteaux de Bassenon» 2020 is a red wine from the northern Rhône Valley whose density shows above all on the nose. In the glass, dark purple with violet highlights and a black core. The nose is concentrated, almost taut: elderberries, sloes, damsons, blackberries and violet, followed by smoke and charcoal, bresaola, pumpernickel, a touch of leather and dark fermented tobacco. With air and time, the wine gains in depth.

The vines grow on a steep slope over migmatite, granite and biotite. The vineyard was planted in 1896 and partly replanted in 1989, with a yield of between 15 and 20 hl/ha. Jean-Michel and Romain Stephan farm their 4.5 hectares largely by hand, using horses for soil work and winches on the steepest plots.

40% Sérine, 40% Syrah and 20% Viognier. Sérine, an indigenous relative of Syrah, is preserved through massal selection. After a 24-hour cold pre-fermentation maceration, a cold carbonic maceration follows in the spirit of Jules Chauvet, lasting 20 days, then 24 months of ageing in used Tronçais oak barrels. Neither filtered nor fined, only minimally sulphured.

The wine flows calmly and steadily, carried by lively acidity and a very fine tannin. The opening offers violet pastilles with juniper and aniseed, then garrigue spice, cardamom-laced mocha, smoked meat and a dark, ripe fruit, sweet with extract but never jammy. A deep minerality keeps this very young vintage in motion.

Barbecued lamb with Moroccan spices, pigeon with truffle, celeriac and liver in puff pastry or French onion soup.

13.5% vol., dry. Preserving the old Sérine vines lies at the heart of Maison Stephan's work: the estate has farmed in harmony with nature since 1995, and since 1997 its wines have been made without oenological additives.