Domaine Gramenon Cotes du Rhone Sierra du Sud 2022

If Poignée de Raisins is Gramenon's calling card for immediate pleasure, Sierra du Sud is where the domaine reveals its other register entirely — brooding, inky, built for contemplation. A pure Syrah bottling from the land of Grenache — an outlier in its own appellation — Sierra du Sud soaks up its surroundings as if at home, offering wild flavours of the Provençal countryside wrapped in a thick coat of deep purple fruit, the cool nights at altitude conferring a freshness that the flatlands of the southern Rhône cannot achieve. The vines are 65 years old, grown on limestone-rich soils at 350 metres, fermented with natural yeasts, macerated for 15 days in tank, and aged for eight months before bottling without fining or filtration. 

Pure, billowing aromas of blackberry, black raspberry, violet, lightly seared meat and gravel lead to a plush, velvety palate with sensual tannins and lively acidity giving the wine superb definition and shape. Blackberry essence and plums with a very attractive mineral thread, dark chocolate, wild herbs intermingled with ripe, fleshy dark berries — and long, serious tannins that reward patience. Strong floral notes of peony and garden rose add an unexpected lift to a wine of genuine complexity — the kind of bottle that makes you reconsider every assumption you had about what a Côtes du Rhône can be.