Sometimes a last name tells you everything. Yann Menager—literally “to manage,” “to husband,” or “to nurse,” in French—spent 20 years as Yves Cuilleron's vineyard chief, learning every granite outcrop and schist vein in the Northern Rhône's most prestigious sites.

In 2011, fate intervened. An elderly grower in nearby vineyards couldn't work his vines anymore. His son had attempted one vintage but quit when faced with the reality of farming 45-degree slopes in Mediterranean heat. The parcels sat abandoned. Menager saw opportunity where others saw only backbreaking labor. He approached Cuilleron not as an employee, but as someone ready to strike out on his own.

Cuilleron's response revealed the esteem he had for his friend: instead of grabbing prime parcels for himself, he helped finance his long-time vineyard manager's independence. For the first few years, Cuilleron even helped make the wines. You can taste it—the same precision, the same understanding of how to coax complexity from Northern Rhône with perfect phenolic ripeness, aromatic lift and remarkable freshness.

The 2020 'Rozier" was harvested by hand with rigorous sorting on the slopes of Menager's Syrah holdings in this famed leut-dit. Fermented with native yeasts in open-top vats with a portion of whole clusters. Aging lasted 18 to 22 months in French oak barriques and demi-muids. The result is a powerful yet ethereal Côte-Rôtie, pairing dark brambly fruit with the appellation's signature notes of cured meat, crushed violet, black pepper, and smoky schist.

Why You'll Love It

• A boutique, single-vineyard expression from steep mica-schist terraces in northern Ampuis.
• Classic Côte-Rôtie perfume on the nose: crushed violets, cassis, bacon fat, black pepper, and graphite.
• The warm 2020 vintage gives the palate rich, velvety dark berry fruit framed by fine, chalky tannins. Superb balance of power, spice, and silkiness and a long, savory finish.
  

How To Serve It

• Serve at a cool room temperature, between 60°F and 63°F, decant for 1 to 1.5 hours to let its mineral and savory aromatics emerge and pour in Burgundy or large Bordeaux stems.
• Pair with herb-roasted rack of lamb, venison loin with juniper, seared duck breast, or a wild mushroom risotto.
• Drink now with a proper decant. This wines is also built for the cellar, with the structure to reward patience well into 2030+.