Côtes du Rhône 'Petit Ours', Matthieu Barret 2024

Matthieu Barret has long been a convert to organic principles in winemaking and Petit Ours (Little Bear), a nickname of Matthieu himself - is all about demonstrating his skill in this direction. It's a delicious little Syrah from north-facing vineyards near the village of Visan, towards the northern part of the Côtes du Rhône, and is grown along biodynamic principles. Aged for nine months in concrete sans sulfites ajoutés and bottled with only a tiny 1g/hl of sulphur. It's punchy, vibrant and highly expressive with lots of fresh, juicy blackberry and black cherry fruit. And bags of spice, a subtle black pepper kick, vibrant acidity and grippy tannins lead on to a good, clean finish.

Great with barbecued lamb chops, sausages, or smoky beef skewers - the dark fruit and peppery kick stand up to charred flavours. Chill it slightly in summer for an extra refreshing twist.

Mattieu Barret of Domaine du Coulet comes from a long line of vignerons and currently produces wines from his family domaine near his base in Cornas overlooking the Rhône just north of Valence. He also sources grapes from other locations in the Rhône valley with which to make his wider range of wines. From his early days in viticulture, he was a convert to organic farming and since 2002 Matthieu has practised biodynamic viticulture on his vineyards which, along with minimal intervention winemaking, is aimed at producing wines which fully express the terroir of each of his locations. Marketing and slick presentation might not be Matthieu's thing, it's the wines he concentrates on.