Bernard Levet, Cote-Rotie, 2016

This is Bernard Levet's house cuvee, the most open and immediately seductive of the family's Cote-Rotie bottlings, blended from across their parcels on both the Cote Blonde (Les Craies, Mollard) and Cote Brune (Moulin, younger Fontgent vines). It spends two years in 600-liter barrels, fewer than ten percent of them new, keeping the focus on bright, perfumed Syrah rather than oak. The family has farmed these 3.5 hectares in Ampuis close to organically since 1936. The 2016 is a classic, fresh, well-balanced Northern Rhone vintage, which makes this an ideal entry into Levet's traditional style: it's giving now but holds for years. Your gateway to one of Cote-Rotie's great old-school addresses.