Jean-Michel Stephan is a producer I have long loved. My palate took to his wines long before I really knew his story, which is charming and compelling, to say the least.

Jean-Michel came from a farming family. His grandfather grew vegetables, apricots, and grapes on trellises (a visible barrier to mark his fields from his neighbors’ so the story goes). He grew up into a family that farmed conventionally and grew grapes as a way of life… a living. But JJean-Michel was always a little, well… different.

As a wee lad, Jean-Michel went a little north to take a position with Jean-Paul Brun in the southerly portion of Beaujolais. This apprenticeship of sorts would be incredibly impactful for Jean-Michel When he returned to the Rhone, he planted a vineyard and picked his first harvest in 1991 with a piece of land he purchased. He always has been a grower first. This is important. Many a ‘natural’ winemaker isn’t quite asking the same questions of their fruit as they are of their winemaking approach. For Stephan, organic was the priority from the start. He has taken this further over the years with Biodynamic methods as well. At first, he sold to the likes of Guigal until he was ready to make his own wine in 1994. A true vigneron, Jean-Michel Stephan is a natural winegrower — creating low intervention wine with high integrity grape growing.

Jean-Michel Stephan tends to 5 hectares in Côte-Rôtie with his son Romain. They purchased a little more land outside the appellation as well. Their Côte-Rôtie parcels include: Côteaux de Bassenon, Côteaux de Tupin, and Côte Brune. His approach is pretty simple. Harvest, semi or full carbonic. No yeast, enzymes, or S02. All but Les Benardes are aged in neutral barrel from local forests.

Côteaux de Bassenon is the most southerly vineyard in Côte-Rôtie. Its granitic slopes are so steep (as much as 40°), that horses can only work about a quarter of it. Much of this 1.7 ha parcel requires manual management. Tech oldest of these vines date back to 1896, after the scourge of phylloxera devastated the area and forced replanting. It is planted to Syrah (50%), Viognier (20%), and Serine (30%). Serine is unique to Côte-Rôtie — a variety that is similar (and related) to Syrah but smaller berried, lower yielding, and arguably more aromatically complex that Syrah. Andrew Jefford claims it has more finesse and offers smoky, bacon fat aromas in these wines. Some would argue it is indigenous to Côte-Rôtie and has built the identity we associate with this region. Despite its perplexing genealogy (or maybe because of it), Serine is a fascinating grape to get to know…

Côteaux de Tupin is located in the côte blonde. It is devoted to Serine exclusively. As such, it is intensely expressive on the nose. Stephan’s 2 ha parcel saw its first plantings back in 1941, which he added to in 1997. Like Bassenon, this site requires everything to be done manually using a winch when necessary. What’s unique about this site is that it has several expositions, as it faces East, South, and Southwest. The soils here have a bit more quartz mingled with a lighter colored granite (leucogneiss).

Les Benardes is a vineyard that lies just below Tupin in the côte blonde at about 300 meters. Stephan has just under a hectare. It is a wine that is his most pure Syrah cuvee that sees a dash of Viognier and is fermented in stainless steel for a nervy, youthful personality. It similarly see that same leucogneiss as well as some microschist.

2020 Les Binardes Côte-Rôtie — 90% Syrah, 10 % Viognier, fermented in stainless steel for 12 months

2019 Côteaux de Bassenon Côte-Rôtie — 40% Syrah, 40% Serine, 20% Viognier, aged 24 months in neutral barrel from the Tronçon forest. Sometimes referred to as Semons.

2019 Côteaux de Tupin Côte-Rôtie — 100% Serine, aged 24 months in neutral barrel from the Jupille forest.

I really liked this map from Fernando Beteta MS to give you a better idea of the very general breakdown between the côte blonde and côte brune (these above bottling in the blonde).

Côte-Rôtie Dreaming...