The steep granite slopes of the northern Rhone make some of the world's greatest Syrah, and they make very little of it. Patrick and Christophe Bonnefond farm a ten-hectare domaine, six or seven hectares of it on the hill of Cote-Rotie, and in recent years they have pulled back hard on new oak in pursuit of a purer, more Burgundian transparency. Sensations du Nord is their Syrah from vines on the slopes just outside the appellation boundary, bottled as IGP Collines Rhodaniennes and aged about a year in barrel. It delivers the northern Rhone signature, cracked black pepper and violets and a savory smoky snap over crunchy dark fruit, without asking you to wait a decade. A genuinely useful bottle: serious enough to think about, easy enough to simply drink.