2021 Clusel-Roch Syrah "Serine", Rhone Valley, France

ABOUT THIS WINE

Cusel-Roch’s vineyards are not planted with just any syrah, but with the unique, low-yielding clone known as serine. Their single vineyard bottlings are in great demand (and limited quantity), but this cuvée provides a rare opportunity to get an affordable taste of Clusel-Roch’s inimitable style! Essentially declassified Côte-Rôtie, this Vin de France comes from a tiny 0.8 ha parcel at the top of a granite plateau just outside the northern edge of the Saint-Joseph appellation. Guillaume Clusel vinified it in a straightforward style designed to be drunk early on, while still retaining ageability. Grapes are partially destemmed and fermented with native yeasts, and the wine ages for a year in neutral 600 L barrels. Biodynamically grown, low-intervention/natural wine, vegan.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

Back in the nineteen fifties René and Joséphine Clusel l began cultivating vegetables, fruit trees and Côte-Rôtie vines, like many other farmers in the Ampuis region, and they sold the wine in bottles. This was a time when Côte-Rôtie wines did not yet enjoy their current reputation, but René Clusel's Côte-Rôtie was very popular with connoisseurs.

The estate is currently run by Guillaume Clusel, Gilbert Clusel and Brigitte Roch.
It has 20 hectares of vines, on three historic vineyards of the Lyonnais, Ampuis (AOC Côte-Rôtie, AOC Côtes-du-Rhône and Vin de France), Condrieu (AOC Condrieu), Millery (AOC Coteau du Lyonnais).