When supply is low and demand is high, prices rise accordingly. That’s Economics 101, and a tiny, prestigious wine region like Côte-Rôtie is the perfect case study—except when it comes to Clusel-Roch. This family-run estate has loads of cachet but not a lot of wine, which would normally push an elite wine like “Les Schistes” well into three figures, but third- and fourth-generation proprietors Gilbert and Guillaume Clusel have held the line. 

Anyone who has seen the terraced slopes of Côte-Rôtie up close, and tasted the region’s greatest wines, can confirm that this level of painstaking craftsmanship and premium terroir is rarely found at this price point—the key word being “rarely,” as Clusel-Roch only produces about 15,000 bottles of wine IN TOTAL each year. Although “Les Schistes” represents the majority of Clusel-Roch’s Côte-Rôtie production, this 2018 is destined to disappear in a flash: To all of you who recognize this as perhaps the best value in the appellation, we’ve got up to six bottles per person to share. When it comes to savvy cellar acquisitions, there may be none savvier.

The groundwork for the Clusel-Roch domaine was laid by Gilbert Clusel’s grandfather, Baptiste, in the 1930s. Those vineyards, totaling all of one hectare, were what Rene Clusel, Baptiste’s son, used to produce the family’s first estate-bottled wine, in 1969. Those vines were located within the famed Côte-Rôtie lieu-dit (named site) “Les Grandes Places,” and as subsequent generations of Clusels acquired new vineyard parcels, they used cuttings from their old-vine Grandes Places parcel whenever replanting was required. Today, vineyard holdings remain minuscule: just 3.5 hectares in Côte-Rôtie and a half-hectare in Condrieu, all of it farmed organically since the 1990s. Headquartered in the hamlet of Vérenay, towards the northern end of the appellation, their vineyards are on the Côte Brune, or “brown slope,” known for its darker soils containing more schist and iron.

Throughout the growing season, everything is done manually because (a) the Clusels believe in natural farming and (b) the hair-raising topography just won’t allow for machinery. Letting grass grow between the rows, spreading composted manure, manually harvesting with the smallest of containers; it’s about as hands-on as farming gets. In the winery, the grapes ferment partially ‘whole cluster’ without any lab-tailoring—only natural, airborne yeasts here. The wine then ages in 228-liter French barrels, 15% of which are new, for two years. Because the wine is racked several times throughout the aging process, Gilbert and Guillaume believe there is no need to fine or filter their wines upon bottling. 

The 2018 Les Schistes is true to Clusel form: firm, focused, beautifully aromatic, and poised for a very long life. This is the classical structure of Côte-Rôtie, loaded with tension and stony minerality. With a three-hour decant today, it erupts with intense blue and purple fruits, smoked meat, olive tapenade, wild herbs, a touch of black pepper, and dominating fresh flower blossoms—violets, most notably. Still, it’s filled to the brim with ripe, dark fruits: blackberries, plums, currants, black raspberry, huckleberry. Amazingly, this isn’t an overly tannic brute right now: it is a silky, beautifully layered beauty that has decades of aging potential. More elegant than opulent, it’s nearing medium-plus bodied and is bursting with black fruit and crushed granite. After ample air, serve in large Bordeaux stems around 60-65 degrees and match it with the attached lamb loin recipe. This will be a standout on a cool summer night, but its stock will keep trending upward as it gains bottle age. The best is yet to come!