Tasting this tangy, floral, wonderfully mineral Northern Rhône Syrah made me miss travel more acutely than ever. One of my last trips to France included a brief visit to Sylvain Gauthier’s tiny cellar in Cheminas, right near the small cluster of villages that comprise the historic heart of the Saint-Joseph appellation. Tasting wine directly from the barrels and becoming acquainted with a winemaker poised on the brink of superstardom—that’s what this job is all about, and I can’t wait to get back into it, but I’m grateful for today’s transporting 2018 nonetheless.
I can’t remember a more complete, more varietally true, more unmistakably “northern Rhône” rendition of Syrah at this price point. In fact, we tasted it alongside the other two (more expensive) Syrahs in his impressive lineup—including his monumental single-vineyard bottling, “Saint-Épine,” from a slope once farmed by Saint-Joseph legend Raymond Trollat—and it didn’t suffer in the least by comparison. Gauthier’s Domaine des Pierres Sèches has risen through the ranks in what seems like record time, and this Syrah is a top contender for “Best Value in the Northern Rhône” honors. We couldn’t stop talking about it both during and after our tasting, and I predict similar reactions from those of you smart enough to get some of this for your table—prepare to be dazzled!
The “original” boundaries of the Saint-Joseph appellation included six communes on the west bank of the Rhône, right across the way from the legendary Hermitage hill: Glun, Lemps, Mauves, St. Jean de Muzols, Tournon, and Vion, all of which have similar decomposed granite soils to those of Hermitage. Gauthier shrewdly zeroed in on this area when he began acquiring old-vine parcels for his Domaine des Pierres Séches, which he founded in 2007. The name is in homage to the old, hand-built stone terraces (pierres séches = dry stones) that are strung across many of Saint-Joseph’s most steeply pitched vineyards, and Gauthier’s 5.5 hectares include not just a parcel on the “Saint-Épine” hillside (in St. Jean de Muzols) but other choice sites throughout the historic southern end of Saint-Joseph. Today’s wine is from an estate-owned vineyard in Sécheras, where vine age ranges from 20-30 years. Although Sécheras falls within Saint-Joseph appellation boundaries, Gauthier chooses to label this bottling under the Ardèche IGP (Protected Geographic Indication).
Although not yet certified, Sylvain is farming organically and doing everything the old-fashioned way in the cellar, and his focused, hands-on approach is immediately recognizable in his wines: They are very clean and polished, and well-extracted, but have palpable “soul” as well. As someone who’s been trained to recognize and celebrate regional wine “benchmarks,” I can tell you: I put my nose in a glass of this wine and there’s nowhere I could possibly be but the heart of the Northern Rhône.
This 2018 is unoaked and ready to enjoy early and often, but for a wine characterized as easy-drinking glou-glou,” I find it uncommonly deep and full of dimension. It’s everything I look for in classic Northern Rhône Syrah, just scaled down for approachability’s sake. In the glass, it’s a deep purple-accented ruby with magenta reflections, with perfumed aromas of juicy blackberries, purple plums, violets, lavender, black pepper, warm spices, and a hint of black olive. Medium-bodied and skewing more fruity than savory, it nevertheless has the perfect amount of freshness and mineral twang—a reminder of its granitic, relatively cool-climate origins. Decanting certainly wouldn’t hurt but isn’t a necessity: Serve this at 60-65 degrees in Burgundy stems and you’ll also be reminded of just how much aromatic complexity Syrah can muster. For a pairing, I’m compelled to reach into the classic Southern Rhône/Provençal recipe books, especially now in the middle of tomato season. I’ve got my new “house” red for the foreseeable future, how about you?
