Wines from Northern Rhône

The northern Rhône is Syrah's homeland, and a small one: a thin ribbon of terraced slopes above the river where the grape gives something no warmer climate quite manages — black pepper, cured meat and violets over a firm, savoury frame.

The famous names here have become expensive, so Mark buys around them: growers in the less-quoted appellations making wine in the same idiom, and the white Rhône varieties that people overlook entirely.