Walls: Exceptional single-vineyard Côte-Rôtie from Benjamin & David Duclaux

Côte-Rôtie is equidistant between Avignon and Beaune. It might be part of the Rhône family, but, due to its location, it can be forgiven for looking north to Burgundy as well to the southern Rhône.

Arguably, though, Côte-Rôtie has more in common with Burgundy’s Côte d’Or.

Scroll down for notes and scores of 18 wines from Benjamin & David Duclaux

If we discount an optional seasoning of Viognier, both region’s reds are monovarietal. Their climates are continental. They grow their vines on southeast-facing slopes.

There are no official premiers or grands crus in Côte-Rôtie, but the proliferation of single vineyard wines is more Burgundian in spirit than Châteauneuvois.

Until now, most have come from Ampuis’ most sacred slopes: Côte-Brune, Côte-Blonde, La Landonne.

More recently, winemakers have been singling out lieux-dits from Côte-Rôtie’s most southerly commune – Tupin-et-Semons.

Though always part of the appellation, this sector has never garnered quite the same praise as Ampuis.

But the strength of a recent tasting at Domaine Benjamin & David Duclaux suggests this terroir is ripe for reappraisal.

Brotherly love

Benjamin and David are brothers (Domaine Duclaux in Châteauneuf is no relation). They’re a jovial pair and they get on well, always cracking jokes.

David’s son Matteo has just joined the estate after a season in New Zealand, and he shares the family’s sunny disposition.

‘We’re not making wine,’ says Benjamin, ‘we’re creating moments in life to share together.’

The 5ha estate, based in the commune of Tupin-et-Semons, was established in 1928 by the brothers’ great-grandfather.

Their Syrah parcels are all planted on gneiss and surround the estate.

Except for a little Condrieu, they only make Côte-Rôtie.

Why no St-Joseph, I wondered? ‘It’s a life choice,’ says Benjamin, ‘we want to stay small and master what we do – and we have a good life as it is! We only make wine from the slopes – we were born on the slopes.’

One cuvée becomes four

Until the 2000s, they only made one Côte-Rôtie, a blend of all their plots.

In 2003 however, they decided to make an experimental barrel of their oldest vines from lieu-dit Maison Rouge, the oldest dating back to 1943.

It was never released commercially, but the quality was clear; ‘it has always been silkier, racier,’ says David. The first official vintage of Maison Rouge was 2005.

At this point they renamed their cuvée classique La Germine. This has since been joined by La Chana, a cuvée with 7% Viognier designed for early drinking.

Their fourth cuvée, Coteaux de Tupin, was first released in 2018.

The specific parcels aren’t the only differentiating factor between each bottling.

Use of whole bunch increases through the range, from 20% for the La Chana and La Germine up to 100% for Coteaux de Tupin, which is designed with long ageing in mind.

The amount of new oak increases too, but never dominates by the time the wines are mature.

As for the names of the cuvées, La Chana and La Germine both refer to obsolete place names on antiquated vineyard maps (though both are blends of several parcels).

Coteaux de Tupin means hillsides of Tupin, a large lieu-dit under the hilltop village of Tupin. So far, so prosaic.

The etymology of Maison Rouge, meaning red house in English, is more intriguing. David offers two possibilities.

The first is connected to a house in the vineyard that was once owned by the Archbishop of Vienne. Legend has it his robes were red and his house was painted the same colour.

The second possibility is that guest houses in Roman times were painted red so that travellers knew where they could get a bed for the night, and the house in the vineyards was once such a hostelry. ‘Which is true? We don’t know,’ says David.

The tasting

When I visited earlier this year, they generously opened a full vertical of Maison Rouge and Coteaux de Tupin. It was the first time they’ve ever performed such a tasting, so the experience was a first for us all.

The Maison Rouge series came first. Blonde gneiss soils are known for their exuberant fragrance and that’s what this cuvée delivers, with high-toned rose and tobacco aromas. In the spectrum of Côte-Rôtie, this is stylistically central – traditional but not dusty, modern but measured and balanced.

It’s a cuvée you can drink young, but it shows its best typically after seven to 15 years of ageing, depending on the vintage.

Only the 2008, a wet year in Côte-Rôtie, was past its best; even the 2005 has another 10 years ahead of it.

The three vintages of Coteaux de Tupin that we tasted were all superb. Compared to the crowd-pleasing, centrist style of Maison Rouge, it’s a bolder, richer, more velvety expression.

Though this cuvée will be longer lived than a typical Maison Rouge, all three vintages of Coteaux de Tupin were surprisingly approachable already.

The Duclaux family aren’t the only ones to make single-vineyard wines from these lieux-dits. Coteaux du Tupin is bottled pure by Domaine Benoît Roseau, Domaine Martin Clerc and Maison Stéphan.

A Maison Rouge is also made by Domaine Georges Vernay and Domaine Mouton. Stéphane Ogier has just bought some land here too, though it’s not yet planted. Perhaps there will be an opportunity for horizontal tastings next time I’m in the area.

While the single-vineyard wines of Ampuis attract the limelight, those of Tupin-et-Semons remain relatively well priced. But for how much longer? This tasting proved just how good they can be.

Top class single-vineyard Côte-Rôtie:

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