Stéphane Ogier

The Ogier family has been rooted in Ampuis, at the heart of Côte-Rôtie, for seven generations, according to the domaine's own site. For much of that history the family grew grapes and sold them to négociants rather than bottling under its own name; its two biggest customers were Guigal and Chapoutier. Michel Ogier bottled the domaine's first estate vintage of Côte-Rôtie in 1983, according to Decanter's 2026 profile of the estate and a separate retailer account of Stéphane Ogier's career. Stéphane Ogier, Michel's son, joined his father at the domaine in 1997 after studying viticulture and oenology in Beaune and spending time training in South Africa. Per the domaine's own site, Stéphane 'took over the succession' from his father, choosing to work precisely across the estate's different terroirs to reveal their character. According to wine journalist Jane Anson, writing for Wine-Searcher, Ogier has been fully in charge of the domaine's decisions since 2003. A new winery in Ampuis, with small stainless-steel vinification tanks, was completed in time for the 2014 harvest, and the estate's wines began selling under the Stéphane Ogier name from that point, according to The Wine Cellar Insider.

• Seven generations of the Ogier family established in Ampuis, per the domaine's own site
• Until the early 1980s, the family sold its harvest to négociants, principally Guigal and Chapoutier; Michel Ogier bottled the first estate vintage in 1983
• Stéphane Ogier joined his father in 1997 after studying oenology in Beaune and training in South Africa; per Jane Anson (Wine-Searcher), he has been fully in charge of the domaine's decisions since 2003
• New winery in Ampuis completed in time for the 2014 harvest; wines began selling under the Stéphane Ogier name from that point

As of a 2026 Decanter profile of the estate, Stéphane Ogier farms approximately 43 hectares in total, of which about 14 hectares lie within Côte-Rôtie itself, spread across some 35 individual parcels and 22 lieux-dits currently in production. The Côte-Rôtie plots sit on the steep schist-and-granite slopes of the Côte Brune and Côte Blonde, and are worked by hand or with a horse, according to Jane Anson's reporting for Wine-Searcher; Ogier also employs a stonemason to maintain the stone retaining walls that terrace the hillside. Beyond Côte-Rôtie, the domaine produces Condrieu, with a first vintage in 2007, plus Saint-Joseph and Côtes-du-Rhône wines. Ogier has also planted Syrah in Seyssuel, on the east side of the Rhône north of Côte-Rôtie, beginning in 2001; the area was settled by the Romans and once grew Syrah before phylloxera and later abandonment, and by the mid-2010s had roughly 33 hectares planted across 13 winemakers, of which about 2 hectares belonged to Ogier at that time, per Wine-Searcher.

• Approximately 43 hectares total as of 2026, including about 14 hectares in Côte-Rôtie across roughly 35 parcels and 22 lieux-dits in production, per Decanter
• Côte-Rôtie parcels on the Côte Brune and Côte Blonde are worked by hand or by horse on steep slopes; a stonemason maintains the terracing walls
• Condrieu holdings produce wine from 2007 onward; Saint-Joseph and Côtes-du-Rhône vines are also farmed
• Syrah planted in Seyssuel (IGP Collines Rhodaniennes) starting in 2001, on a site with Roman-era vine history

The new winery finished for the 2014 harvest houses small stainless-steel vinification tanks, averaging 20 to 30 hectoliters, sized to allow Ogier to vinify individual Côte-Rôtie parcels separately, according to both The Wine Cellar Insider and Jane Anson's Wine-Searcher reporting. Ogier has described his approach in terms of finesse over power: 'We make a southern Rhône, but in my heart I am much closer to Burgundy. Concentration for me is not power but density with finesse,' he told Jane Anson. Barrel aging across the range runs around 18 months, with the proportion of new oak varying by cuvée and vintage, from 20 to 100 percent. Grapes are destemmed to varying degrees depending on the wine; The Wine Cellar Insider reports an average destemming rate of about 80 percent across the domaine, with parcels vinified separately and, in some cuvées, Syrah and Viognier co-fermented.

• New cellar (completed 2014) uses small stainless-steel tanks averaging 20 to 30 hectoliters for parcel-by-parcel vinification
• Ogier on his winemaking philosophy: 'Concentration for me is not power but density with finesse' (to Jane Anson, Wine-Searcher)
• Barrel aging averages around 18 months across the range, with new-oak proportion varying by cuvée and vintage (20 to 100 percent)
• About 80 percent average destemming rate domaine-wide, per The Wine Cellar Insider; some cuvées co-ferment Syrah and Viognier

Ogier's Côte-Rôtie range centers on wines he considers 'grand cru' in character, even though Côte-Rôtie has no official cru hierarchy: La Belle Hélène, Lancement, and La Côte Blonde. La Belle Hélène, named for Michel Ogier's wife (Stéphane's mother), debuted with the 1995 vintage, sourced from old vines on Côte Rozier next to the parcel Guigal uses for La Landonne. Lancement is an old-vine Syrah from the Côte Blonde lieu-dit, sourced from vines on Stéphane's mother's side of the family; La Côte Blonde, first made from the 2015 vintage, comes from a younger parcel purchased in 2008 near where Guigal sources fruit for La Mouline. A larger share of Ogier's single-vineyard fruit has historically gone into a blended Côte-Rôtie Réserve, positioned between the village-level Mon Village and the single-vineyard bottlings. According to Decanter's May 2026 profile, that Réserve bottling has evolved into a new cuvée, Mes Grands Lieux, which the domaine now ages for about 10 years before release; the inaugural release is the 2016 vintage, a blend of around a dozen lieux-dits (about three-quarters from the schistous Côte Brune side), fermented separately then aged roughly 24 months in barriques and, increasingly, demi-muids, at 96 to 98 percent Syrah with close to 50 percent whole clusters. No Réserve has been released since the 2016 vintage as the domaine holds these wines back. Outside Côte-Rôtie, the range includes Condrieu, Saint-Joseph, the Seyssuel-sourced IGP wine, and the Côtes-du-Rhône Le Temps est Venu.

• 'Grand cru' tier (Ogier's own informal term): La Belle Hélène (Côte Rozier, debut 1995), Lancement (Côte Blonde), and La Côte Blonde (debut vintage 2015, from a parcel purchased 2008)
• Mon Village sits at the village level; a larger share of single-vineyard fruit was previously blended into a Côte-Rôtie Réserve
• New for 2026: Mes Grands Lieux replaces the Réserve, aged about 10 years before release; inaugural release is the 2016 vintage, roughly a dozen lieux-dits blended, about 96-98% Syrah with close to 50% whole clusters
• Also produced: Condrieu (from 2007), Saint-Joseph, a Seyssuel IGP Collines Rhodaniennes wine, and the Côtes-du-Rhône Le Temps est Venu

Stéphane Ogier's Côte-Rôtie wines have drawn perfect scores from multiple critics over three decades. La Belle Hélène received a 100-point score from Robert Parker in its third vintage, 1999, according to iDealwine's account of the domaine, putting it alongside Guigal's La Mouline, La Landonne and La Turque; iDealwine reports the same score was repeated for the 2009 and 2010 vintages. In 2015, widely regarded as one of the greatest Northern Rhône vintages, Jeb Dunnuck awarded 100 points to both La Belle Hélène and Lancement, a rare instance of a single producer scoring two perfect marks in Côte-Rôtie in one vintage; the 2018 La Belle Hélène also received 100 points from Dunnuck. Dunnuck also awarded 100 points to the 2017 vintage of La Côte Blonde, its third vintage, a score Stéphane Ogier publicly credited in part to his father Michel, who had passed him the La Belle Hélène parcel. Robert Parker separately described Ogier, writing in 2011, as one of France's most brilliant small artisanal wineries, per a Wine-Searcher retrospective. Wines are released once a year, on February 1, and are subject to allocation among retailers and importers.

• 1999 La Belle Hélène (its third vintage): 100 points from Robert Parker, per iDealwine; the same score recurred for the 2009 and 2010 vintages
• 2015 vintage: both La Belle Hélène and Lancement scored 100 points from Jeb Dunnuck, a rare double perfect score for one Côte-Rôtie producer in a single year
• 2018 La Belle Hélène: 100 points from Jeb Dunnuck
• 2017 La Côte Blonde (its third vintage): 100 points from Jeb Dunnuck
• Wines are released annually on February 1 and are allocated among retailers, per Wine-Searcher

Primary source (producer's own site): https://www.stephaneogier.fr/, https://www.stephaneogier.fr/contact/. Secondary sources: The Wine Cellar Insider, https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/rhone-wines-cote-rotie-hermitage-chateauneuf-du-pape/rhone-wine-cote-rotie-producer-profiles/ogier-cote-rotie/; Wine-Searcher (Jane Anson, 29 Jan 2015), https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2015/01/10-things-every-wine-lover-should-know-about-domaine-michel-et-stephane-ogier; Decanter (Matt Walls, 12 May 2026), https://www.decanter.com/wine/rhone-valley/why-wait-a-decade-for-cote-rotie-stephane-ogiers-done-it-for-you/; iDealwine, https://www.idealwine.info/stephane-ogier-keeping-up-the-pace-in-cote-rotie/; Vitabella (15 Dec 2019), https://www.vitabella.fr/another-perfect-score-for-domaine-stephane-ogiers-lalalas-in-cote-rotie/; WineAccess (2015 La Belle Hélène listing), https://www.wineaccess.com/catalog/2015-stephane-ogier-cote-rotie-la-belle-helene_f9a1dadc-0de0-40ae-b81b-d5d52f5e4d97/; First Bottle Wines (2018 La Belle Hélène listing), https://firstbottlewines.com/products/stephane-ogier-cote-rotie-la-belle-helene-2018-3pk-owc. Last verified 2026-09-14. Where the producer's own site is silent on a fact, the most recent independent secondary source governs; where two secondary sources conflict, both figures and the discrepancy are logged in conflicts.json rather than asserted as fact.