Etienne Becheras "Le Prieure d'Arras" Crozes-Hermitage Rouge, Rhône Valley, France 2023

FROM ROSENTHAL:

THE WINE: 100% Syrah. This is, as Hemingway said about the best of writing, a “true” wine. There can be no wine more expressive of this appellation and of the Syrah of the northern Rhone than this splendid bottle of joy. A wine of sublime concentration that gives definition to the term “goût de sèvre”, this is satisfying, pure and flat-out delicious. It bristles with fresh acidity at the outset, then with aeration settles in to display classic northern Rhone meaty fruit. Becheras is a truly worthy successor to the great Michel Ferraton—a domaine we represented in its prime—his cave only missing the scrawled poetry that graced the walls of Ferraton’s cellar!

THE PRODUCER: With vineyards principally situated in the Saint-Joseph appellation, supplemented with limited but well-placed holdings in Crozes-Hermitage, Becheras’s wines are an excellent example of wines from this mid-section of the Northern Rhône and offer compelling value. References in the archives of Montefalco, Etienne Becheras’s domaine is polycultural. It extends for 12 hectares principally within the confines of the village of Arras which borders and overlooks the Rhone River on the western side. The domaine farms organically. The five hectares situated on the flat lands along the Rhone are planted to cherry and apricot trees. Three are four hectares of vineyards which are planted on the limestone and gravel soils which mount in altitude and are on steep hillsides. The vineyards are placed on long terraces supported by hand-constructed stone walls. As a result, almost all work must be done by hand without the aid of mechanical implements. The remainder of the property is dedicated to forest where the ash and acacia trees are used as building and heating materials and offer the extra advantage of presenting ideal conditions for the growth of edible mushrooms and truffles.