2018 Stephane Ogier Saint Joseph Le Passage 750 ml

There’s only one red grape planted in the Northern Rhône Valley: Syrah. It’s rare to find a wine region with such a singular dedication to just one variety—but then again, it’s rare to find an area as perfect for one grape as the Northern Rhône’s undulating landscape is for producing complex, spicy Syrah.

Winegrowers often say “Syrah likes a view.” That’s because the grape, which can deliver great fruit characteristics no matter where it’s grown, delivers outstanding complexity and depth when grown on sunny, well-draining hillsides—like the ones found in St.-Joseph. 

The east-facing inclines at the heart of this appellation sit across the river from Hermitage, and see two hours less sunlight than their famous neighbor. The result is lighter, more elegant Syrah—a style captured perfectly by Stéphane Ogier, a 100-point wunderkind who helms what Rhône expert Jeb Dunnuck calls “one of the most exciting domaines in the world of wine today.” 

Trained in Burgundy, Ogier makes his 2018 Le Passage Syrahs more graceful than those of many of his contemporaries, an approach that’s earned him a floor-to-ceiling list of critical praise and placements in top restaurants. From just five acres of granite-laden soils, his 2018 Le Passage is a brilliant expression—aromatically powerful, lively and refined, with black fruit sporting spicy, herbal, savory complexity—praised by Dunnuck for its “pure, rounded, sexy style.”

He aged Le Passage for 12 months in just 10% new oak to give a purer expression of site. Fantastic now, it has the structure to age for the next decade or more.