Someone in the Beaujolais cru of Chiroubles is growing Syrah. Whether they’re thinking of the future where Syrah will chart a northern course towards Burgundy, or if they’re just rebels without a cause we don’t know, but the grapes seem to like the soil just fine, the same sort of rocky granite they know from Cote-Rotie and Cornas. The results of the final wine are delightful, something that smells exactly like Beaujolais, – with notes of wild strawberry, raspberry, currants, orange zest, lavender and gravel – but tastes unmistakably of syrah, with pepper and bacon, cranberries and strawberries and orange peel, as though it grew 150 km south in the northern Rhone. Powerfully aromatic, comprehensively savory, and 10% abv. Chef’s kiss.