Years ago, whilst travelling Europe’s great wine growing regions, I fell in love with northern Rhone Valley Shiraz. Of particular fascination was the Côte-Rôtie “Roasted Slope” region. With pale limestone and mica slopes to the south-west. And brown slopes covered in schist and iron in the north-east.

Legend has it that Count Maugiron, who owned Côte-Rôtie, had two beautiful daughters — one blonde, the other, brunette. When he retired, he passed on the light south-west slopes to his blonde daughter and the dark north-east slopes to his brunette daughter. And, as the legend goes, this is how those slopes came to be known as “Côte Blonde” and “Côte Brune”.  Like the count’s daughters, these wines are all elegance, balance and complexity — full of the character of their origins.