Rene Rostaing

Rene Rostaing is one of the great producers of Syrah.  Rene has been a grape grower since 1971, starting with two tiny parcels of Cote Blonde and La Landonne.  However, with the retirement of two uncles in the 1990s, Rene was able to increase his land holdings significantly, and allowed him to focus on making wines full-time.  
 

Now, Rene owns more than 5 hectares of vineyards in some of the top parts of Cote-Rotie.  He is considered to be a benchmark of classicism in winemaking, preferring a style with purity and elegance, and uses almost no new wood in his wines.    Along with his single vineyard wines in La Landonne and Cote Blonde, he blends parcels from the two to create his cuvée classique, now called Ampodium.  His techniques vary from year to year, sometimes using whole clusters, sometimes not.  His vines have great age to them, which adds to concentration without delivering too much viscosity, and his wines, while able to last well into their 30's, can be enjoyed in their youth and offer enormous pleasure.