Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 2020 1.5L

Few names carry the weight in the northern Rhône that Alain Graillot does. When he planted his first vines in Crozes-Hermitage in 1985, the appellation was still regarded as Hermitage's unglamorous neighbour — a place for bulk Syrah rather than serious wine. Graillot changed that single-handedly, farming for ripeness and restraint rather than power, and this cuvée remains the benchmark against which every other Crozes is measured. It's a wine built on the gravelly, alluvial soils south of the hill of Hermitage, where Syrah ripens fully but never turns jammy, and where Graillot's light touch in the cellar — partial whole-bunch fermentation, gentle extraction, minimal new oak — lets the fruit and the site do the talking rather than the winemaking.

In the glass it's everything northern Rhône Syrah should be: a dark, brooding core of blackberry and cracked pepper, laced with violets, charcuterie, and that unmistakable savoury, olive-tapenade edge that separates real Syrah from the international imitators. The palate is medium-bodied and beautifully poised, with fine, grainy tannins and a peppery, iron-tinged finish that keeps pulling you back for another sip. It drinks beautifully on release with a slight chill on a warm evening, yet has the structure to reward five to eight years in the cellar. Pour it with duck confit, a peppered steak, or a wedge of aged Comté — this is serious wine at an unserious price, and proof that the northern Rhône's greatest value still comes from one address.