Syrah VdF 2023

A juvenile Syrah of invigorating freshness, juicy and fruit-driven, with fresh acidity and light tannin as its backbone. At 12.5% Vol., this wine lives on tension and drinkability rather than power.

The grapes come from three terroirs in Condrieu, Verin and Roussillon: alluvial soils, granite and glacial terminal moraines. Maison Stephan farms 4.5 hectares of steep vineyards on granite and gneiss soils in the heart of Côte-Rôtie. Jean-Michel Stephan started there in 1991, and since 2017 his son Romain has co-run the estate. Work is largely done by hand, horses are used for soil cultivation, and winches on the steepest plots; yields stand at around 30 hl/ha.

100% Syrah, vinified in the spirit of Jules Chauvet: cool pre-fermentation maceration over 24 hours, followed by cool carbonic maceration over ten days, then eight months' ageing in cuve. The wine was neither filtered, nor fined, nor sulfured.

The nose brings together red and dark fruit: blackberry, redcurrant and blackcurrant, blueberry, along with mint, violet and cool mineral notes. On the palate the wine is juicy and full of finesse, with liquorice, black olive and grilled herbs behind the dark fruit. The light tannin lends structure without slowing the wine's flow.

Maison Stephan has worked consistently along natural lines since 1995 and has vinified without oenological additives since 1997. For an unsulfured, unfined and unfiltered red wine to appear this clear and composed demands precision in the cellar. The Syrah VdF is the most approachable wine in this range.