Chateâu Pesquié in the Southern Rhône is among the Ventoux appellation’s brightest stars. Cuvée Artemia comes from two vineyards at Château Pesquie – a Grenache vineyard on pebbly limestone that is one of the Chaudiere family’s highest elevation sites, and a Syrah vineyard on alluvial soils at an elevation of 340 meters above sea level. Mostly Syrah, the 2020 Ventoux Artemia reveals a Northern Rhône-like style in its darker fruits, bacon fat, leather, and iron-driven aromatics. It usually shows a Côte Rôtie-like style in this cuvée, and the 2020 is no exception. Medium to full-bodied and balanced, with fine tannins, enjoy bottles over the coming 10-15 years. This cuvée is mostly Syrah from higher elevation, cooler, gravelly limestone soils.