If you want to experience classic flavors of northern Rhône Syrah, here is a textbook example evoking velvety blackberry fruit, cracked pepper, and crushed schist stone.

Hailing from a single vineyard high up on the hill above Saint-Désirat, at the middle point of the Saint-Joseph appellation, this cuvée dials up the fragrance and elegance of Monier-Pérreol’s Saint-Joseph.

Yearning for northern Rhône magic? Here you go. Pull a cork or more and see what I mean.

With a nose of gunflint and suave Marsanne fruit, it has length and finesse; extremely limited availability

This small parcel has a fruit-forward, approachable style, yet with intense spice and licorice in there as well, perhaps from the deep-rooted old Syrah vines.

Delicate and perfumed, it speaks softly, yet it has so much to say: lilies, bacon fat, spices... it could only be Côte Rôtie.

Majestically dark and brooding Cornas, layered with aromas of herbs and mint. Extremely limited availability

Amid the lush fruit runs a delicate current of minerality that lingers on the tongue, as if the wine cascaded down a granite slope on its way into your glass.

Young vines yield a Cornas that opens up sooner than Clape's flagship cuvée.

Like eating lemon curd at a party that Renoir might have painted—think something like Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette.