Yves Cuilleron IGP syrah Les Vignes d’à Côté – Organic Practices

The Cuilleron family Domaine, located in the hamlet of Verlieu (part of the town of Chavanay) was founded several generations ago (1920). Yves Cuilleron’s grandfather was the first to bottle wine for commercial purposes in 1947. Antoine Cuilleron, the uncle and immediate predecessor of Yves, assumed control of the Domaine in 1960 and significantly increased the percentage of wine bottled at the estate and extended the scope of the Domaine. Yves assumed full ownership and direction of the Domaine in 1987 and, since that time, has built an entirely new facility while at the same time acquiring additional vineyard property. The Domaine is now (as of 2012) significantly larger in scope with 52 hectares of vineyards that cover multiple appellations, including principally, Condrieu, Saint Joseph Rouge and Blanc, Cote Rotie, Saint Péray, and a series of Vin de Pays from the Collines Rhodaniennes.  

Yves Cuilleron has established himself as one of the leading lights of France’s Northern Rhône region. He’s a modernist, but not overly so: his wines straddle neatly the divide between traditionalists and the new-wave, in the sense that they retain their sense of place, but express their site in a slightly more approachable, immediate way. There’s a purity to the fruit, and where new oak is used it isn’t excessive. 

This IGP Collines Rhodaniennes wine is a single-variety Syrah cultivated sustainably by hand in granitic and alluvial soils. After an alcoholic fermentation in open vats, two weeks of maceration and fermentation with natural yeasts, the wine is matured for 8 months in vats and barrique barrels. Its ruby ​​aspect prefaces an expressive bouquet of small, tart red berries. It is a wine to be enjoyed with beef skewers served with green tapenade for maximum enjoyment of its occasionally slightly spicy aromas.  7 months with 50% in barrels 50% in stainless steel tanks.