Domaine Jean-Michel Gerin is not one of the oldest properties in the Northern Rhone Valley. Far from it. In fact, the estate was created in 1983 by Jean Michel Gerin, although it was not until 1987 that he began to bottle and sell their wine. He started with a small parcel of land, but in 1996 added to their holdings with the purchase of land on one of the regions (and indeed all of France’s) most famous vineyard sites – La Landonne. Not content to only produce wine in Cote Rotie, in 2002, he entered into a joint venture with a few other French wine makers to produce wine in the Priorat appellation in Spain.
The focus is of course in the Rhone Valley however. Today Jean-Michel owns 12 hectares of vines in the Cote Rotie appellation, plus a few more in the surrounding regions. The domaine is a family affair, with sons Michael Gerin and Alexis Gerin assisting with both viticulture and winemaking. The style is modern – ageing the wines using a lot of new French barrels and American oak barrels. The use of American oak barrels is not common in France, let alone in Cote Rotie! The results speak for themselves however – round, opulent, ripe and generously textured.
This is a wonderful introduction to the world of Northern Rhone Syrah, which although the same grape, couldn’t be further from Australian Shiraz stylistically. Whereas locally we expect powerful fruit and sweet, rich oak; here we have blackberry, some violet, plenty of black pepper and a dark charry finish. There’s some black olive and dried lavender in there as well, creating a complex yet harmonious wine.
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