Domaine Gramenon Cotes du Rhone L'Emouvante 2022

L'Émouvante — "the moving one" — is Domaine Gramenon's pure Syrah statement, drawn from vines over forty years old planted on what Michèle Aubéry-Laurent and her son Maxime François Laurent consider the domaine's single finest terroir, up on the 350-metre plateau near Vinsobres. The site sits on sandy, limestone-flecked soils laid down when the region was still covered by sea some 86 million years ago, farmed under strict biodynamic principles (Demeter-certified since 2010) at punishingly low yields of around 25 hectolitres per hectare. True to the Gramenon philosophy, the wine is fermented as 100% whole clusters, given an extended maceration, then aged around twelve months in used demi-muids — no new oak, no fining, no filtration, and only the barest whisper of sulphur, letting the fruit's purity carry the wine entirely on its own.

The result has been compared to "great Cornas with Mediterranean influences" — a genuinely apt description for Southern Rhône Syrah with real Northern Rhône backbone. Expect a floral, herbal nose with black olive and dark chocolate, unfurling into a full, silky palate carrying plummy fruit, olive tapenade, clove, and peppery spice, all structured by good acidity and tannins that critics describe as tough but built to soften with a little time.