2017 | Jean Michel Stéphan | Coteaux de Bassenon

Power and richness characterise this wine, with its strong aromas of black berries, spices and flowers. The wine becomes increasingly refined and elegant over time. Smooth in texture and nicely concentrated, offering intense cherry, black currant and candied violet flavors that open up steadily through the midpalate. Youthfully chewy tannins lend grip to a very long, smoky finish that leaves a bitter chocolate note behind.

Reviews:

• Vinous: Saturated violet. Powerful, mineral-inflected dark berry and floral qualities on the nose, along with a suggestion of succulent herbs. Smooth in texture and nicely concentrated, offering intense cherry, black currant and candied violet flavors that open up steadily through the midpalate. Youthfully chewy tannins lend grip to a very long, smoky finish that leaves a bitter chocolate note behind.

• James Suckling: This red shows a mulled and perfumed profile, with bitter cherry, damson plum and blood orange notes mixed with bay leaf, white pepper and sanguine accents, carried by racy but well-embedded acidity. The lengthy finish leaves a mouthwatering feel. Syrah, Serine and Viognier.

Producer Information

Before Jean-Michel took over his family vineyards in 1991, their grapes had been sold to the Guigal family, according to Jean-Michel’s mother they deemed them as good as the fruit produced on their famous parcels La Turque, la Landonne and La Mouline. His largest holding is the 1.5 hectares on the Coteau de Bassenon, a 40° slope with terraces cut into the soft granite and gneiss, some of the vineyards are so steep that only 25% can be worked with a horse, the rest has to be tended manually. The vineyards are farmed along biodynamic principles. At present he farms around 60% Syrah, 30% Serine and 10% Viognier, but he is planting more massale-selection Serine, an expressive, small berried Syrah clone almost unique to the northern Rhone. The Viognier is co-planted among the Serine and Syrah and therefore harvested and fermented alongside them. Jean-Michel prefers to ferment his cuvees using carbonic maceration in order to extract the most delicate aromatics while not accentuating the structure and concentration imparted by the low yielding vines. “I make wines on the fruit, without sulphur,” he says “I want fruit and maximum freshness".

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