Northern Rhône

Northern Rhône is Syrah country. While small amounts of the white grape viognier are found here (and sometimes blended with Syrah), Syrah dominates. Places like Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie are the stuff of legend. Brimming with heady notes of hanging meat, olive tapenade, black/white pepper and incense, Syrah from the Northern Rhône is the standard by which all others are measured. There is nothing quite as primeval, so elementally primordial as a Syrah from this region. These wines are a mood; a roaring fireplace, and old bearskin rug, a steaming hot kettle of lamb stew, and your grandpa’s old spiced tobacco pipe. These wines are less about elegance and panache, and all about pure faunal animalistic pleasure.