Cote-Rotie & Northern Rhone Valley
The Northern Rhône is a narrow, dramatic stretch of vineyards running along the Rhône River south of Lyon, and it's responsible for one of the most important facts in all of wine: this is where Syrah actually comes from. DNA research has settled what older legends got wrong — the grape didn't travel from Persia or Sicily, it originated right here.
The story of the region's name is one of its best. The hill at the heart of it all is named after a hermit: according to legend, Gaspard de Stérimberg, a former Crusader knight, retired to live as a hermit on the hill overlooking the Rhône at Tain, giving Hermitage its name — and indirectly, that of Crozes-Hermitage, the appellation that wraps around it. After the Romans left, interest in the region's wine faded almost entirely, only properly reviving when the Avignon Popes, with their considerable wealth, drove a major expansion of wine production starting in the 13th century.
What makes the Northern Rhône so interesting is how dramatically different its wines can taste, despite nearly all of them being built on the same single grape. Eight primary appellations stretch across roughly 65 kilometres, and the differences between them come down almost entirely to which bank of the river you're on, which way the slope faces, and the exact mix of granite, schist, or alluvial soil underfoot. The Mistral wind is a constant presence throughout — drying, disease-reducing, but also a real physical stress on the vines.
At the top of the hierarchy sits Hermitage itself: just 130 hectares across three communes, producing wines of rare intensity that can age for up to 30 years. Just north, Côte-Rôtie ("roasted slope") grows on punishing, near-vertical terraces and is the one appellation that traditionally co-ferments its Syrah with a touch of aromatic white Viognier. South of Hermitage, Cornas stands apart by allowing no white grapes at all: 100% Syrah, grown on steep, south-facing terraces, producing wines that are powerful but generally considered a bit less refined — and notably less expensive — than Hermitage.
Then there's the more accessible, everyday end of the region. Crozes-Hermitage is by far the largest Northern Rhône appellation, split into two very different halves: steep granite hillsides in the north, and flat, alluvial, limestone-rich plains to the south — the northern wines lean savoury and structured, the southern ones riper and more approachable young. Saint-Joseph, on the opposite bank, was historically known simply as "Mauves wine," named for the village of Mauves, before changing its name in the 19th century; it's a long, scattered strip of vineyard running some 65km north-south with no real geographic heart, which is part of why quality and style vary so much grower to grower.
On the white side, Condrieu and the tiny Château-Grillet are devoted entirely to Viognier, producing rich, floral, bone-dry wines, while Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, and Saint-Joseph all permit small amounts of Marsanne and Roussanne in their whites — grapes also behind the famously slow-to-reveal, decades-worthy white Hermitage.
In this collection you'll find Syrah across the full Northern Rhône range — approachable, fruit-forward Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph for everyday drinking, alongside more serious, age-worthy bottlings from Cornas, Côte-Rôtie, and Hermitage for when the occasion calls for something with real weight and pedigree
