Clos de la Bonnette Syrah Vielles Vignes 2021

From a plot on the heights of Ampuis bordering the Cote-Rotie appellation, this is 100% Syrah farmed organically on steep granite terraces held up by traditional dry-stone walls and chestnut poles. Isabelle Guiller and Henri Montabonnet rescued the neglected clos in 1992, having grown organic produce since 1970. The wine spends a year in old 228-litre oak barrels — no new wood — and is bottled with only a light filtration, so it is the vineyard, not the barrel, doing the talking.

The plot sits about 400 metres up, right at the edge of the Côte-Rôtie plateau. The soil there is clay over mica and schist, and a smaller share of the fruit comes from alluvial ground on the plain at Tupin. The vines are more than 50 years old. No herbicide or pesticide has touched the land since it was cleared, and the farming is certified organic by Ecocert.

The grapes are picked by hand and destemmed, then ferment on wild yeasts. Maceration runs about three weeks in tank before the wine goes to barrel. The whole cuvée comes to somewhere between 2,500 and 2,700 bottles a year, so there is not much of it.

Serve it at 16 to 18 degrees and give it 30 to 45 minutes in a decanter. The estate suggests grilled red meat, rib of beef, duck or pigeon, and lamb with herbs.