Syrah of E. Guigal goes with anything you throw on the grill

Of all the red wines in the world, Syrah is one of the reddest.

These are gnash-and-tear wines to pair with my kinda town Chicago-style steak, chops, sausage and anything you throw on a grill. I can almost smell the sizzle now.

The secret of Syrah's meat ability is its skin. Syrah's blue-red jewel of color goes hand in glove with firm tannic structure, both color and tannin contained in the same chemical compound, called a phenol. Syrah, along with other southern France varieties cabernet sauvignon and Tannat, is the grape highest in phenols.

So, Syrah is always big but not necessarily a brute. Given time in the vineyard to ripen fully, time in the bottle to soften tannin and sometimes, time in the glass for complexity to blossom, Syrah offers flavors of plush berry fruit, accents including spice and earth, and a more-or-less pleasant funk described among the wine set as “sweaty saddle.”

This column focuses on Syrah grown by France's Rhone Valley producer E. Guigal, not the longest-lived or largest Syrah producer, but one that's produced more of the world's finest Syrah longer than anybody.

After Mesopotamia (about 6,000 B.C.), after Greece (about 4,000 B.C.), after Italy (about 800 B.C.), the Rhone is our most ancient wine land, plied by Phoenicians and Greeks who either carried Syrah from Persia in about 4 B.C. or cultivated wild vines already clinging to the rocky banks of the Rhone River.

Over coming centuries, these banks were hand-carved into steep vineyard terraces, rising at 70-degree pitch, for modern workers to tend in Chicago-like weather: frigid winter, roasting summer and brutal wind.

E. Guigal owns 150 acres of the Rhone's finest vineyards, methodically rebuilding terraces for optimum exposure, pruning vines for flavor concentration, with no use of agrochemicals, all to insure the purest expression of their land.

Caring for vines — some more than a century old — is backbreaking, but it's hands off in the winery, with noninterventionist techniques including natural yeast fermentation and no filtration. Guigal makes their own barrels, which hold the finest wines up to three and a half years, simpler selections for two years, in order to integrate tannin and develop flavor.

While Guigal wines may benefit from aging, they are balanced, complex and delicious upon release. Wines to look for include:

Cotes du Rhone, 2012: While it's aggressive, Syrah plays well with others, especially Grenache and Mourvedre grapes. Make Guigal's great-value blend your own bistro wine, adding its comfy tannin and saturated flavors of ripe berries, licorice and finely-cracked pepper to casual Chicago favorites including grilled ham and cheese (or in France, Croque Monsieur), meat and potatoes (steak frites) or your favorite one-pot meal including chili and France's famous fish stew, Bouillabaisse. In the hottest of summer, serve slightly chilled. ($12.99)

Chateauneuf du Pape, 2010: 70 percent Grenache takes the lead in this muscle-y but lithe wine. Pleasing on first opening, the wine benefits from decanting or an overnight open in the fridge to develop earth, herb, black cherry and aged-meat complexity. Serve with rich meats and poultry, including your favorite steak, lamb curry or Rhone favorite poularde demi-deuil, chicken with supreme sauce and truffles. (About $50)

Cote Rotie “Brune et Blonde,” 2011: This “roasted slope” may be France's oldest vineyard. Guigal blends 100 percent Syrah from two aspects: the Cote Blonde (with light sand and limestone soil) with Cote Brune (darker soil of iron and clay). This is serious muscle that rewards patience in a decanter, glass or opened overnight in the fridge. At first, brooding amer-doux (bittersweet.) With the hours, the wine stretches into a taut, magnificent length of flavors including wild berries, sweet tobacco and fine meat, with tannin the palate reflectively wraps itself into. Try the sommelier's trick of smelling a glass that's been emptied of the wine to experience the full range of aromas. Serve with fine red meat, including wild boar.

You fire up the grill; I'll pour the wine.

• Write to Advanced Sommelier and Certified Wine Educator Mary Ross at food@daily herald.com.

Ross' choice

Name: Crozes-Hermitage

Region: Rhone Valley, France

Producer: E. Guigal

Vintage: 2012

Availability: At wine & spirits chains & boutiques, about $25

(Distributed by: Heritage Wine Cellars, Niles)

In France, vineyards are so esteemed that larger areas would co-opt a respected site's name to build their own prestige; in the U.S., Crozes might be dubbed “Hermitage Glen.” Crozes is more approachable to both the palate and pocketbook than formidable Hermitage; with Guigal's meticulous care this wine is luscious and pretty, unctuous upon entry, with fruit, licorice and amer-doux (bittersweet) chocolate flavors defined by refined tannin. Serve with flavory meats, poultry and stews. As the weather hots up, serve chilled cool to the palate.