2016 Domaine des Ardoisieres Cuvee Amethyste

High in the French Alps, on a slope so steep it rivals the great hillsides of Côte-Rôtie, sits one of the most extraordinary vineyards in France. The Coteau de Cévins was first planted by the Romans, then abandoned for centuries, left to the mountain, until in the late 1990s a small group set out to bring it back. Plot by plot, they rented hundreds of tiny parcels from local villagers, rebuilt the ancient terraces and dry-stone walls by hand, and replanted the bare rock. They named the estate for the local slate, ardoise, the same stone that roofs the famous Grande Chartreuse monastery.

Today Domaine des Ardoisières is one of the most sought-after names in France, run by Brice Omont, farmed biodynamically, the near-vertical vines still worked by horse. Améthyste is its top red, grown on that vertiginous Cévins slope from two rare Alpine grapes: Persan, which gives finesse and silk, and Mondeuse, which brings structure and spice. The result is a mountain red unlike anything else, all blueberry, cracked pepper, and wild herbs, powerful yet light on its feet.

There is very little of it, and almost none reaches the US. Wines from a place like this don't come around often.