Domaine Les Bruyères has been in David Reynaud’s family since his grandfather, Georges, planted about 20 hectares of vines on a gently sloping plateau along the Isère River, at the southern end of Crozes-Hermitage. For most of that time, the family sold their grapes to the local cooperative, but when David came along in 2000, it was time to put the family name on a label—but not before David completed the estate’s transition to biodynamic viticulture.
He managed to obtain Ecocert certification in time for the 2003 harvest, and since then, his has been a fast-rising star in the northern Rhône—his wines are attracting huge demand among sommeliers, but prices have yet to reflect that. Headquartered in the village of Beaumont-Monteaux, one town over from SommSelect favorites Alain Graillot and Domaine Combier, Reynaud crafts an array of small-production, terroir-specific Syrahs that ooze Northern Rhône typicity. Today’s cuvée, called “Beaumont,” contains purchased fruit from some of Reynaud’s like-minded (i.e. certified organic) grower-neighbors, and we’d say these folks in Beaumont-Monteaux have their act together: This luscious and lively Crozes-Hermitage is a tremendous amount of wine for the money. It’s also a great example of the payoff derived from clean, conscientious farming—namely, a wine of incredible purity that needs neither expensive new oak (it sees no oak at all) nor any other manipulation to achieve its remarkable level of polish. All it takes is healthy, carefully handled fruit, which comes through loud and clear in this superb 2017.
Reynaud’s “Beaumont” cuvée is sourced from younger vines and is designed for earlier drinking. As noted above, he sources fruit from low-yielding, Certified Organic vineyards only, then ferments and ages the wine in concrete cuves (vats). The absence of any oak in this wine is noteworthy, as it really allows the deep, dark Syrah fruit to show through, along with all the violet and cracked black pepper notes we associate with this variety in this place. In the glass it’s a bright, nearly opaque purple-ruby moving to magenta at the rim, with a deep and expressive nose of blackberry, plum, pomegranate, lavender, black pepper, and dark chocolate. Medium-plus in body and silky smooth in texture, there’s a fascinating combination of plushness and precision in this wine: It starts out quite saturated and palate-coating but finishes with a tart and energizing snap. It’s a young wine but also an accessible young wine, delicious to drink now and over the next few years; decant it about 30 minutes before service in Bordeaux stems and check out the attached recipe’s list of ingredients—it reads a little like the flavor profile of the wine!