Dard et Ribo, hotdogs, and 96% pharmacy ethanol

Maksym brought back a haul from Dard et Ribo - the famously reserved Northern Rhône estate that René-Jean Dard and François Ribo have run together since 1984 - and we duly assembled around eight bottles on a warm Kyiv evening at Lo. Saint-Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage, and the Hermitage hill itself: the estate's full range, rouges and blancs and one of their flagships. Maksym, never one to make things simple, also dropped in a bottle of Ulysse Collin Les Maillons (served blind, no one guessed) and a Pierre Gonon Saint-Joseph as a deliberate contrast point. The Gonon ended up showing the natural-vs-conventional wine-making difference better than any direct discussion would have.

I wanted hotdogs to go with all of this, so I brought a portable mangal. Plot twist: no charcoal starter. I tried home-made calvados - not enough fuel for a proper fire. Everything was already closed by the time we needed more, but a quick pharmacy run produced a few bottles of 96% ethanol, which worked beautifully. Glorious hotdogs, Dard et Ribo bottles, plenty of extras, and the kind of evening that turns a pharmacy emergency into part of the story.

Ulysse Collin Les Maillons 48 months (2019)

Ulysse Collin is one of grower Champagne's most allocated houses - Olivier Collin reclaimed his family's Congy vineyards in 2003, after a generation of leasing them out and an apprenticeship under Anselme Selosse. The domaine works on a Burgundian template: single-parcel, single-variety, single-vintage cuvées with no blending across sites or years, fermentation in used Burgundy barrels, malolactic completed, near-zero dosage. Les Maillons is the Blanc de Noirs - a Pinot Noir cuvée from a Chardonnay-country house, first bottled in 2006. This 48-month release is the longer-aged version of the 2019 base, disgorged February 2024, Extra Brut.

Served blind. No one at the table guessed it - and my blind score came in the highest, which is a fun result given the cult status of this label. White flowers and gunpowder open the nose, then deepen into oxidised apple and linden honey, charged before the first sip. On the palate the intensity holds and lengthens; the finish runs properly long, with pickled mushroom and an almost-lactic funk sitting underneath the fruit - the kind of register extended sur-lie tends to pull through. On the heavier side. Properly tasty - and the blind-score angle says something about how much of the cult lives in the label rather than in the glass.

René-Jean Dard et François Ribo Saint-Joseph Pitrou 2022

Pitrou (also marked L'Echirol on cadastral maps) is a 0.55-hectare single parcel of sandy granite just north of St-Jean-de-Muzols, planted in the 1940s-50s. 67% whole-cluster Syrah, two to three weeks of vinification, ten to twelve months in used 600-litre demi-muids. The estate's lightest-bodied Northern Rhône red - peppery, taut, transparent, more about lift than weight. Low ABV at 12.5% - the Dard et Ribo signature.

Beautiful aromatic register on the open - properly floral, like stepping outside at night in a village, with the cool damp-air sense that goes with it. A vegetal undercurrent runs through, but the aromatic herbs take the foreground - spicy, lifted, quite alive. Super fresh on the palate, bright, ripe berried fruit pushing through the herbs, a faintly natty edge that doesn't tip over. Tasty enough - but the depth isn't there yet, the wine reads more sketch than painting. Not bad. Just not one I'd reach back for.

Pierre Gonon Saint-Joseph 2023

A Saint-Joseph from another house entirely - Maksym threw it into the lineup as a deliberate contrast to the Dard et Ribo bottles around it. 2023 vintage, single Syrah, 12.5% ABV, dry, from the same granite-slope appellation as the Dard et Ribo Saint-Joseph rouges and blancs. The point was the comparison itself: same place, same grape, different cellar philosophy - and the result was clear in the glass.

Now this is aromatic - wild black pepper and pine resin come straight at you, then a vegetal thread runs through both nose and palate. Round on entry, properly gentle, with the kind of grounded weight that doesn't lift off the table. Delicious and elegant in a way that doesn't have to announce itself. The finish is lovely - properly salty, holding for a beat. The reductive lift and the barrel work play together cleanly here, neither one pushing the other out of frame. The kind of Saint-Joseph that just behaves.

René-Jean Dard et François Ribo Crozes-Hermitage Pé de Loup 2019

The estate's flagship Crozes rouge, sourced from plots in Larnage - red clay, gravel and alluvial stones with some granite. Whole-cluster Syrah fermented in large wooden vats, aged in old 600-litre demi-muids, bottled without filtration. 2019 was a hot Northern Rhône year but more structured and tannic than 2018 - the denser, more layered expression of the cuvée, built for longer ageing while keeping the estate's freshness signature.

VA isn't loud here, but the smoke is - and that's the whole personality. Smoked taranka opens it, then tar, melted plastic, ground peppers, semi-dried blackberry layered behind. Cool, complex, the kind of aromatic register that takes a few minutes to map. Still charged on the palate, the tannin reading green - this one isn't fully resolved yet - but the acidity is sharp and class, and a touch of sweetness on the finish carries the structure through. A wine that rewards attention rather than the easy first sip.

René-Jean Dard et François Ribo Crozes-Hermitage Pé de Loup 2018

Same cuvée as the 2019, same Larnage source - red clay, gravel and alluvial stones, with some granite. Whole-cluster Syrah, large wooden vats, old 600-litre demi-muids, no filtration. 2018 was a hot, generous Northern Rhône year - plush, fruit-forward Syrah with a softer acidic frame than the more structured 2019.

Nose is the more interesting of the pair - more depth, more layering than the 2019 was offering. But the palate raises questions. Rounder, sure - but also less put-together, like the parts haven't settled into the same wine yet. I don't mind a fizzy note in principle, but here it reads as out of place rather than as a feature. A bit green underneath, and the acidity threads through at a strange angle. Complex, interesting, but the 2019 came across more cohesive overall. Two takes, one clear answer.

René-Jean Dard et François Ribo Hermitage 2019

The estate's most exclusive bottling: Syrah from a tiny holding on the Hill of Hermitage itself - Dard et Ribo own roughly half a hectare across the lieu-dit Varogne (very old vines, some from around 1910) and a small slice of Les Murets. Unlike the Crozes and Saint-Joseph rouges, the Hermitage bunches are mostly destemmed (around 90%), with the small whole-cluster remainder kicking off the spontaneous fermentation. Over a year in 500-litre barrels, no filtration, effectively no added SO2. Production is tiny - on the order of a thousand bottles in a normal year. The 2019 vintage's heat and structure should carry this for decades.

Oh, this is gorgeous. Complex and multilayered from the first lift, the blackberry leaning toward semi-dried with proper concentration behind it. Almost none of the vegetal register that ran through the lineup makes it here - maybe a flicker, no more. Properly clean. Silky on the palate, round through the middle, the barrel sweetness landing exactly where it needs to without taking over. Long, seamless, one beat flowing into the next without the joints showing. Drinks like nectar - and that's not flattery, that's the actual texture. Beautiful style.

René-Jean Dard et François Ribo Saint-Joseph Blanc 2022

100% Roussanne - an exception in the appellation, where Marsanne is normally the dominant or sole grape. The fruit comes from granite slopes on the northern side of the AOC. Direct press, native ferment, neutral wood ageing, no fining or filtration, effectively no SO2 - the house template applied to a precise, taut white. 2022 was a warm Northern Rhône vintage; expect ripe orchard fruit pulled into shape by Roussanne's natural saline drive.

Really interesting, albeit a touch strange. Very ripe apples open it, then apple-quince jam, then a salted edge that reads like Savagnin even though it isn't one. The palate is a bit sweet, lush at the front - and then the acidity steps in to hold the line, with the salinity keeping the whole thing honest. Complex on two opposing axes at once: friendly through the lush sweetness, serious through the saline backbone. Both running through the same wine, neither winning. Cool bottle - and I get why people split on it.

René-Jean Dard et François Ribo Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2020

Marsanne-Roussanne blend - the proportions vary vintage to vintage, with Roussanne sometimes leading and sometimes the junior partner. Direct press, native ferment, ageing in old demi-muids or used barrels (no new oak), bottled without filtration or added sulphur. Crozes Blanc tends to show more orchard fruit and honey weight than the Saint-Joseph Blanc - a richer, broader expression of the same Marsanne-Roussanne idiom in the same low-intervention frame.

This one is odd. Tropical and properly funky on the nose - raw, eggy, with overripe tropical fruit pushing through, the kind of register that announces itself loudly. The acidity sits on the lower side, but the reductive layer fills in the space and creates a sense of concentration that's mostly trick-of-the-light. Palate keeps going there - cooked nettles, that vegetal-eggy thread running through. The masking-as-substance approach disarms me rather than persuading me. Interesting, but not a register I want to spend time in. The outcast of the lineup.

Raw scores