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Jean-Michel Stephan, Côte-Rôtie “Les Binardes”

Northern Rhône, France 2018 (750mL)
$115.00
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Fruit
Earth
Body
Tannin
Acid
Alcohol

Jean-Michel Stephan, Côte-Rôtie “Les Binardes”

In order to discover who Jean-Michel Stephan is, you must ask a guy who knows a guy, and they might be able to shed some light—but as for tasting the wine? That’s an entirely different story that few in America have ever had the opportunity to do. Stephan’s Côte-Rôties are created and allocated in such cruelly small quantities, I’ve only just tasted my first bottle despite his first vintage coming in 1991. That’s nearly 30 years of hearing his name echoing off back channels and receiving sporadic texts about how so-and-so just devoured a bottle. So what’s the allure about, aside from hush-hush marketing and small production? The wine itself. These are what I like to call “black sheep” Syrahs forged directly from Côte-Rôtie’s treacherously steep granite hillsides.


Allow me to explain: Jean-Michel is one of very few in the region who has legitimately practiced organic farming for decades, plus he’s one of the most minimalist winemakers and trend-shattering visionaries of the entire Northern Rhône. His raw material is exactly that—raw and unadulterated—and in the cellar, his naturally-fermented, carbonic-macerated wine is bottled without new oak, sulfites, filtration, or fining. Few, if any, can check off all those boxes. The bottle we so luckily sampled was a savage, borderline feral Syrah that effused some of the most robust, pure, and intense aromatics/flavors imaginable. Stephan’s carved-from-earth creation is not for the faint of heart—each deeply mineral, dark-fruited sip will force it to skip several beats! So, if you’re a devotee of cult producers Jamet, Rostaing, Benetière, and Levet, allow me to introduce your next white whale. Only four bottles per person.


When Jean-Michel Stephan took over his family vineyards in 1991, they weren’t in a state of disrepair nor were they high-yielding crops destined for bulk production—these precious vines had been largely sold to Guigal, whom purportedly said they bore fruit as good as those produced at the famous sites of La Turque, La Landonne, and La Mouline. For the unaware, Guigal’s three “La La” bottlings are among the most famous on planet earth, fetching about $400+ a pop on any given year. 



Upon taking over in ‘91, Stephan immediately began implementing an organic approach to his few hectares of vines—and they’re old, too, coming in at an average age of 50 years with the oldest planted in 1896! And then, six years into taking over, he met a couple of Beaujolais’ natural wine Gods, Yvon Métras and Marcel Lapierre, and was instilled with a new outlook. He began fermenting with ambient yeasts, employing carbonic maceration à la Beaujolais, and avoiding any sulfite additions. Today’s 2018 comes from a number of Stephan’s terraced, steep-sloped parcels mostly within the famed Côte Blonde. It was vinified with essentially zero human intervention and matured in stainless steel for a minimum of 12 months. As you can probably guess, it was bottled unfined and unfiltered without any additions. 



Before serving Stephan’s 2018 “Les Binardes” into Bordeaux stems, I highly suggest a minimum 30-minute decant due to the natural state of the wine. Trust me when I say employing a bit of patience here pays huge dividends. In the glass, an opaque dark purple core and inky, glass-staining tears are revealed. This is a polished beast that blasts out raw, wild, and powerful aromas like huckleberry pie, blackcurrant, Damson plum, black raspberry liqueur, black cherry blossoms, violets, exotic spice, crushed granite, baked earth, olive tapenade, a touch of freshly cracked black pepper. The full-bodied palate meets you with an intoxicating blend of dark berry fruit, crushed minerals, and ultra-savory notes that are enhanced by fine-grained tannins and a remarkable buoyancy. But even for all of its intensity, there is incredible pleasure and breathtakingly purities to be had, thanks to natural farming in the vineyard and carbonic maceration in the cellar. Enjoy now, throughout the course of an evening, and preserve your other bottles for consumption over the next decade. Cheers!

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Country
France
Region
Northern Rhône
Sub-Region
FranceCôte-Rôtie
Soil
Granite & Schist
Farming
Practicing Biodynamic
Blend
Syrah 90%, Viognier 10%
Alcohol
15.0
OAK
Old French Barrels
TEMP.
60-65
Glassware
Bordeaux Stems
Drinking
Now-2035
Decanting
Two Hours
Pairing
One-Pan Lamb Couscous

France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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