Medium body, blackberry, gentle tannins, fresh finish.

Vibrant purple colour with bags of black fruits on the nose. Medium to full bodied, with blackberry, cherry and spice flavours, allied to gentle tannins and a fresh, peppery finish. Hand harvested with rigorous fruit sorting. De-stemmed, crushed and moved to stainless steel tank. 3 days of maceration before fermentation with selected yeasts at up to 33C over 7 days. Further maceration of 20 days with regular pumping over.

• Ageing: 6 months in oak barrel

Cellaring: It can comfortably cellar for a further 6-8 years.

Food pairing: Magret of duck or roast pork.

BEHIND THE WINE

Etienne Curson is one of the go to names in the Northern Rhone. Château Curson is a particularly historic property where the soils are quite gravelly sloping, with a more clayey subsoil deal for the development of Syrah vines, allowing the elaboration of complex wines, concentrated with fine tannins and well coated.