Domaine Curtat "syrah Vieilles Vignes" red 2023 (3 bottles)

PRESENTATION OF THE C. CURTAT DOMAINE
+ ALL HIS OTHER CUVÉES IN STOCK

Domaine Curtat "Syrah Vieilles Vignes" Red 2023

Technical sheet of this cuvée:

A beautiful story. Christophe Curtat discovered this hectare of vines in a remote corner of the Saint-Joseph appellation, notably thanks to an impressive plot of syrah vines over a century old located at the top of a hillside. He obtained the lease from an elderly owner, who had not "officially" declared his harvest to customs for about ten years. Result: After 8 years without a "harvest declaration," the legislation is very clear: The vine can no longer claim the appellation where it is geographically located, in this case, Saint-Joseph. And yet, what a vine!!!

Regardless of the appellation, Christophe Curtat met the owner and took over this hectare on lease in 2013. He invested heavily and worked tirelessly ;-) on the soils, replaced the dead vines and old hybrids left in place... but intentionally produced nothing in 2013. 2014 was his first vintage of "Syrah d'Ardèche."

A few changes since the 2019 vintage, firstly the cuvée changed its name to "Syrah Vieilles Vignes" because it was important for Christophe Curtat to give a name to this cuvée to make the range more homogeneous (all the other cuvées have a name). Moreover, the winemaker created a simpler cuvée with the young vines of his estate ("Les Gros", not in our range for now). This allowed the winemaker to more drastically select the grapes that go into his "Vieilles Vignes" cuvée, whose concentration is now more significant, while maintaining the freshness that made its reputation.

In our opinion, many Saint-Joseph owners would go to great lengths to cultivate this hectare with superb results, especially after the costly but necessary year of aging in oak barrels of 2-3 wines (for half), and in stainless steel tanks (for the other half) imposed by the constant concern to prioritize quality and refinement over quantity and rusticity, despite the "old-timers" of the appellation, whose wines were only good to drink after 4 or 5 years in the bottle.

Today, the wines signed Curtat naturally have a strong aging potential (5 years minimum), but they are also perfectly good to enjoy right after bottling, a welcome modernity for Lyon restaurants that have almost de facto monopolized this small cuvée (only 6000 bottles) of "Saint-Joseph not administratively correct" at such an affordable price, for this quality... but without the prestigious AOP, just a simple "IGP Ardèche".