For lovers of syrah, the Northern Rhone wines are the standard-bearers. Northern Rhone is made up of individual appellations including Côte Rôtie, Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, Cornas, and Saint-Joseph. These wines are famed for their high quality and for the dramatic change in character that takes place from youth to maturity.
The conventional wisdom used to be that young Northern Rhone wines were tannic and intensely spicy, with aggressive tar and fresh ground-pepper aromas and flavors. As they aged, the traditional-style wines were said to have developed depth and richness and to have displayed underlying blackberry, currant, and smoke notes.
