Dard & Ribo Crozes-Hermitage Rouge C'est le Printemps 2025
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The Land
This one comes off the plain, and that is the point. La Grace at Mercurol sits on the flat southeastern side of Crozes-Hermitage, on clay mixed with sand and rolled stones dropped by the Isere. It is a precocious site with a Mediterranean tilt, which means the Syrah here ripens early and arrives with more sun in it than hillside fruit does. That is what a wine built for spring release needs. To keep it from running hot, Dard and Ribo blend in Syrah from Les Baties at Larnage, up in the hills to the north on red clay and rolled stone, where ripening is slower and acidity holds. The plain gives this wine its flesh, the hillside its spine.
The Wine
The name and the release date invite the Beaujolais comparison, and the assumption that follows is carbonic maceration. It is not. C'est le Printemps ferments 67 percent whole bunch in open wooden vats with pumpovers, a vinification of eight to ten days, then four to five months of elevage split half in vat and half in used 600-liter casks. It is early-release by design rather than by technique, which is why it tastes like Syrah rather than like a method. The fruit splits evenly between vines planted in the 1970s and in 1996, and alcohol sits low, around 11.5 percent in recent vintages. Crushed raspberry, sweet spice, cracked pepper and a granitic snap, no oak flavor, and a finish that stops short and clean on purpose. 2025 was hot and dry in the northern Rhone: heat waves in June and again in August, ripening two weeks ahead of 2024 from the end of July, severe drought in the final weeks before picking, red yields down roughly 25 percent.
The People
Rene-Jean Dard talks about wine that is alive and does not necessarily have to be kept, and C'est le Printemps is the clearest statement of that position on the list. Alongside it they bottle Rouge Divers, a primeur that goes into a clear Bordeaux bottle so you can see what you are getting. The single-vineyard cuvees only appear in vintages that justify them. The partnership started in 1980, when Dard, who had inherited Saint-Joseph vines from his father at 15, and Ribo, from Tain-l'Hermitage, decided to farm together after meeting at wine school in Beaune. They made it official in 1983, and today sell into 17 countries off 8.5 hectares.
Food Pairing
Serve this cold, around 55 degrees, and treat it like a summer red. Grilled sausages with mustard and a shaved fennel salad play straight to the pepper and the low tannin. A charcuterie board with cornichons and good butter is the natural home, since the acidity handles the salt. Tuna steaks seared rare with olive tapenade work because there is almost no tannin here to clash with fish. This is the bottle for the first warm evening of the year, opened on a porch, finished before anyone asks what it cost.
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The Rhône Valley is a diverse and historic wine region, divided into two distinct areas. The Northern Rhône is the birthplace of Syrah, with steep, terraced vineyards that produce some of the world's most revered wines, such as those from Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie. The Southern Rhône is much more expansive, offering a wider range of styles, but typically based around Grenache-based blends, with wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape known for their complexity and power. While the region is celebrated for its reds, it also produces incredible textured whites, and as a whole the region displays the spectrum of French wine and the incredible differences that can come from small geographic changes.
Rhone Valley
Syrah is a dark-skinned grape of French origin, specifically from the Northern RhĂ´ne Valley, where it produces some of the world's most powerful and complex wines. Known as Shiraz in Australia, Syrah is capable of displaying a wide range of aromas and flavors. Cool climate Syrahs tend to express floral notes like violets, along with savory elements like olives, while those grown in warmer climates like Australia are more likely to show black pepper and dark fruit notes such as plum. The grape's versatility allows it to adapt to various climates and soil types, but it maintains its unique characteristics no matter where it is planted.
