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Côte Rôtie's Wild Side: Jean-Michel Stephan
September 05, 2024In July 2012, a friend and I experienced our first Bastille Day celebration in epic fashion at the Lapierre's annual feast in Morgon. A few days later, it seemed fitting to meet Jean-Michel Stephan atop the steep terraces of Côte Rôtie, who notes Lapierre as his greatest model.
Stephan takes a vinification approach that differs drastically from his neighbors in Côte Rôtie. Inspired by his time in Morgon, Stephan's philosophy employs carbonic fermentation, a process customarily reserved for Gamay in Beaujolais. Still, the most profound bottles hit the same mark as great traditionalists like Jamet and Benetière.
As Stephan explained, all clusters enter fermentation tanks free of sulfur additions. He pumps in some CO2, closes the hatch, and walks away. When he returns, the intracellular or carbonic fermentation is complete. This method gives Syrah a less restrained primary fruit note, and the use of whole clusters counters that with spice and tannin, but in the end, it's the fresh streak within Stephan's cuvées I notice first.
At first glance, Stephan's wines may seem like Côte Rôtie through a Beaujolais prism, but they offer a unique mineral streak and wildly aromatic range. The dark and brambly fruit is unadulterated by the complete absence of sulfur additions. With decanting, these young wines reveal a side of Côte Rôtie that makes it feel like it's your first time drinking Syrah.
Les Binardes is 90% Syrah and 10% Viognier sourced from a single vineyard just below Côteaux Tupin. Aged in stainless steel tanks with zero sulfur additions.
Coteaux Bassenon is 60% Syrah, 30% Sérine, and 10% Viognier (the oldest vines were planted in 1896 and 1902). This parcel is on darker mica-schist soils in the northern part of the appellation, having qualities more commonly found in Côte Brune.
Coteaux Bassenon is 60% Syrah, 30% Sérine, and 10% Viognier (the oldest vines were planted in 1896 and 1902). This parcel is on darker mica-schist soils in the northern part of the appellation, having qualities more commonly found in Côte Brune.
Coteaux de Tupin is 100% Serine. Vignerons remember it as the ancient clone of Syrah, a more oval-shaped berry, providing a darker take on the already wild Syrah variety and doubling down on the violet aromatic notes. Stephan's old Serine vines grow on granitic gneiss and white mica schist soils.
En Coteaux is produced only in select vintages, sourced from the oldest Serine vines in Bassenon, and is supplemented with 15% of old-vine Viognier.
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