Yves Cuilleron, Syrah "Les Candives" 2023

Easily the favourite from our Cuilleron adventures, this is a delicious, complete wine offering black fruit, cherries and teasing notes of oak. Delivering a supple, smooth, mouth-coating body with not an edge in sight, this is a no-brainer of a bottle to impress, invigorate and satisfy!

This is a stunning red from one of the northern Rhone's top producers.

If you like the idea of Hermitage or Côte Rotie but balk at the prices, then this is for you. If you only want to buy one really, really good bottle of French red, then, again, this is certainly for you. Dark fruits and spice with notes of licorice on the nose lead to a lush, densely fruity palate that is balanced with freshness and typical Syrah elegnace, structure and length.

This champion wine-maker of the Rhone produces some of the most exclusive wines in the region. Cuilleron knows exactly what each plot is able to yield in terms of quality, style and character and in that regard is a master of all of the vines he tends. This wine is made from the best selection of vines on the hills next to the most famed sites in the Rhone, and they are a selection found only on shallow, granitic soils in the Chavanay sub-zone. This base provides a superb platform for the grapes to ripen with minimal intervention from the vineyard team, who, in truth, only fertilise when necessary with organic fertilisers and don't even spray with insecticides. The result is this wonderfully complex, rich and pure varietal wine that is then treated like royalty (in the positive sense) and though it has a relatively short maceration of 2 weeks, it is aged in barriques for 8 months, providing the wine with structure, elegance, character and a lick of oak. A very special wine.

By the way, "Les Candives" isn't a region or area, it's actually the local name for Syrah. Now you know.

Yes, just a note; this is now the 2023 vintage, which you might think is very youthful (to say the least). Well, it is; but these days that doesn't have such negative connotations as it used to. I'd always ask myself if it is ready for drinking; in other words, is there any aspect of the wine that isn't quite right, or that will be ironed-out, or better in a year or so. The answer here, because of the skill of the winemaker, is no! It's perfectly ready to drink and there is nothing I'd want change now. It will develop and change subtly in time, but it won't get any better, nor any worse.

2023 presented a number of climate-related challenges in Europe, the Rhône included. A very dry winter, heavy spring rains and a colossal heat-wave in the summer.These factors meant that winemakers had to adapt and react constantly in order to protect the vines and grapes. However, they're not attending their prèmiere rodeo, and the quality of grapes was outstanding, largely helped by a dry and warm (if very quick) harvest. Those growers such as Cuilleron with vines in higher altitude sites were blessed by a large diurnal range, keeping colour and acidity, sugars and size all in balance in each of the bunches of grapes. It was at times a wild vintage, but there is good volume of wine and the quality is very fine indeed.

Philippe Pellaton, President of Inter Rhône, notes: “Weather conditions were more chaotic in the North than in the South of the Rhône Valley, leading to a shorter harvest. That being said, both quality and quantity are there, throughout the region. The 2023 vintage for the wines of AOC Côtes du Rhône and the Rhône Valley Vineyards appears to be a great vintage for blending: full, dense, balanced and with lovely acidity levels.”