2018 Michel Chapoutier Bila-Haut L'esquerda Côtes du Rousillon Villages Lesquerde 750 ml

When he first tasted Michel Chapoutier’s Roussillon wines more than 15 years ago, Robert Parker called the winemaker “a young genius” who wouldn’t compromise. “Everything Chapoutier is doing,” noted Parker, before listing Chapoutier’s obsessive methods, “is done to produce the essence of a vineyard and a vintage.” 

Chapoutier’s Roussillon outpost is now the source of arguably some of the greatest red wines of France—and inarguably some of its greatest values. No bottle shows this better than the 94-point 2018 Bila-Haut L'esquerda Côtes du Roussillon Villages Lesquerde.

This is a kind of rich, ripe, and terroir-expressive red that’s “beautifully pure and elegant on the palate,” in the words of critic Jeb Dunnuck. Intense and teeming with dark fruit, black pepper, and espresso, this is the work of one of France’s—and perhaps the world’s—greatest winemakers. 

The village of Lesquerde is marked by steep, craggy, arid soil, and at an altitude of 350 meters, it’s the latest-ripening of Chapoutier’s Roussillon terroirs. His sites consist of hilltop slopes that soak up the intense Roussillon sun, and the kind of granitic soil that characterizes his home of Hermitage. That combination of sun, soil, and altitude makes for a wine that teems with the richness of Roussillon but displays the vivacity and complexity associated with Northern Rhône Syrah. 

The 2018 L’esquerda is a Syrah-dominant blend accented with Grenache and Carignan, all of which is hand-harvested, destemmed, and macerated for four weeks to draw out a deep purple color. Aged eight months in concrete tanks to round out the wine without makeup, the result is a rich, radiant example of the best of Roussillon.