Importer (Kermit Lynch) Notes:  If you want to experience the classic flavors of northern Rhône Syrah, then here is a textbook example. Velvety black fruit coats the palate like a fine pulp, while sensations of cracked pepper and pulverized schist stone provide an incisive, mouth-watering precision that can only be achieved from cool-climate Syrah planted in thin, rocky soil.

The soil in question is mica-schist situated just outside the boundaries of the Côte-Rôtie appellation, in a parcel above Ampuis called l’Arsélie. Unable to blend the fruit into his Côte-Rôtie, Lionel Faury has bottled this cuvée—whose name, a pun on the vineyard site, translates roughly to “zealous art”—separately since its inception nearly ten years ago. Now approaching twenty years of age, the vines have their roots firmly entrenched in these rocky soils, resulting in a wine with the depth, nuanced aromatics, and milled-stone minerality of great Côte-Rôtie—all while maintaining inviting youthful fruit.

Fermented with roughly 50% whole clusters and bottled by gravity without filtration, this cuvée conveys the lifted spice, savory, and floral elements that we love about traditional northern Rhône reds. Lionel allows the terroir to express itself to its fullest, making this an ideal point of entry to experience authentic Côte-Rôtie—even if officially speaking, it isn’t Côte-Rôtie at all.