Syrah in focus, part 1: the French homelands

My grandfather claimed he couldn’t afford truly good Burgundy on a regular basis. His solution? Head south, to what was then a less fashionable region – the Rhône. Wise man. Turning his back on the Côte d'Or meant opening his cellar to the pleasures of wines like Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage as well as blends from further south still. The geographical shift also meant recalibrating his palate from the mercurial charms of Pinot Noir to a grape altogether deeper, darker and wilder: Syrah.