2021 l'Oratoire Saint Martin Cairanne Haut Coustias, Southern Rhone

The bouquet is reserved, but carries potential, has a brewed tone to its dark fruit, the non-Grenache varieties emphasised, with a dab of blood-mineral within. The palate holds nicely sustained matter, is well centred, elegant, with some inner drive in the tannins. It has enough stuffing to pair well with beef dishes, and lasts with a little iron, droiteur, into the extended close. There’s plenty here to get into.

John Livingstone-Learmonth drinkrhone.com

Biodynamic 

Crafted from 45% Mourvèdre, 45% Grenache and 10% Syrah, the Haut Coustias is this vineyards tour de force red—the most distinctive wine of the domaine, even if we often rate Les Douyes just as highly. It is made from 65-year-old vines planted in the rocky, limestone-rich, blue clay soils of the estate’s highest plot. Only 8,000 bottles are produced each year.
 
Befitting the domaine’s flagship red, grapes are sorted three times (in the vineyard, then pre- and post-destemming), and the wine naturally ferments in concrete before spending ten months in large, 22-hectolitre wooden foudres. Hewn from tiny yields of intensely flavoured fruit, the palate is refined, flowing and full-bodied, sculpted into silky shape by great, powdery tannin and lifting acidity, with a lovely note of freshly ground coffee on the long finish. Haut Coustias is the priciest of the l’Oratoire offerings yet offers fiendishly good value. Although the style is more ‘limestone’, tapered and fine, it’s a wine that would happily take on many a Châteauneuf-du-Pape at twice the price. There is no hurry here, but thanks to the balance and lucid freshness of the year, it already shines at the table.