Côte Rôtie "Les Binardes" AOC 2020
Maison Stephan crafts the Côte Rôtie "Les Binardes" 2020 from 90% syrah and 10% viognier grown on steep slopes of leucogneiss and quartz.
CHF 104.50
Prices in CHF, including customs duty and all import charges, plus shipping CHF 15 (free from 12 bottles or CHF 300) — no further charges on delivery.
Available for Switzerland
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About this wine
Character
A dense, concentrated Côte Rôtie whose dark fruit is threaded with brightness and spice. Power and freshness sit side by side, the tannin remains silky. Young, the wine needs air — decanting is a must.
Terroir and origin
The vines grow on steep slopes of leucogneiss and quartz, planted between 1986 and 1994. Since 1991, Jean-Michel Stephan has farmed 4.5 hectares on the steepest slopes of Côte-Rôtie above the Rhône valley, largely by hand, using horses for soil work and winches where the incline allows nothing else. Yields stand at 30 hl/ha.
Grape variety and vinification
90% syrah and 10% viognier. A cool 24-hour pre-fermentation is followed by ten days of cool carbonic maceration, in the spirit of Jules Chauvet. The wine then spends twelve months in used barrels. It was neither filtered nor fined, and only minimally sulphured.
On the palate
The nose shows ripe fruit and spice: juicy blackberries and black cherries, plums and sloes, alongside blood orange and bergamot, mint, juniper and liquorice, a touch of pepper and bresaola, topped with violet and lilac. On the palate it is ripe, juicy, almost creamy, with plenty of extract sweetness and concentrated dark fruit brightened by the viognier component. The gently peppery spice wraps around a silky tannin.
Food pairings
Saddle of venison with juniper reduction, green beans with bacon and Jerusalem artichoke purée; hare in a sloe gin and cranberry reduction with pommes dauphine and Brussels sprouts; pigeon in coffee jus with potato-celeriac purée and braised red cabbage.
Special features
Maison Stephan has farmed along natural lines since 1995 and has vinified without oenological additives since 1997. The vineyards hold old vines of Sérine, an indigenous relative of syrah, preserved through massal selection. Since 2017, Romain Stephan has run the estate alongside his father.
