2020 Clusel-Roch Côte-Rotie "Les Schistes", Rhone Valley, France

ABOUT THIS WINE

Vineyard: 3.5 ha in the lieu-dits of “Viallière”, “Champon”, and “le Plomb.” The soils are ferrous mica schist.

Blend: Over 95% Syrah from selection massale and around 5% Viognier that is co-planted. The average vine age is 20 years old.

Viticulture & Vinification: Certified organic—harvest and sorting is done by hand. Grapes are put into tank by gravity, partially de-stemmed, and fermented with their indigenous yeasts. The wine is aged for 2 years in oak barrels (15% new) with no filtration before bottling.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

The first time you set your eyes on the hills of Côte Rôtie, it is impossible not be overwhelmed with their beauty. The cliff-like granite hillsides seem to have burst from the Earth with vigor and violence. Only the truly dedicated would decide to make their living there. No tractor on Earth can plow these vineyards – everything has to be painstakingly done by hand. This is the place that Domaine Clusel-Roch calls home.

Based in Verenay, the northernmost village in Côte Rôtie, this tiny 3.5 hectare domaine is run by Gilbert Clusel, his wife Brigit, and their son Guillaume. Gilbert’s grandfather planted the foundation of the winery in 1935, the vineyard now known as ‘Les Grandes-Places’, using a low yielding clone of Syrah called Serine. All subsequent plantings have been selection massale from that vineyard, a rarity in the region as higher yielding material became more prevalent. The Clusel family was also early believers in the advantages of organic farming, and would become pioneers of the movement within the region as they converted fully in 1990.