Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A delicate nose of currants, black pepper, blueberries, and leaves. It’s medium-bodied with creamy tannins and fresh acidity. Round and velvety with a delicious core of cherries at the center. It’s silky with finesse and balance. Vivid finish with black pepper notes. Drink or hold.
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Jeb Dunnuck
There are two Côte Rôties in the vintage from Ogier. The 2021 Côte Rôtie Mon Village is forward and charming, with classic black raspberry, spice, spring flowers, and subtle gamey notes in its medium-bodied, silky, elegant profile. It shines in the vintage and is beautifully balanced.
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Wine Spectator
A robust, dense version in a challenging vintage, this red leads with graphite minerality and white pepper spiciness. This is tightly wound, with notes of earth, tar, tarragon and grilled mesquite smoke. Earl gray tannins keep this upright through the firm, tangy finish. Needs time to integrate and loosen up. Best from 2025 through 2035. 4,000 cases made, 250 cases imported.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
The cultivation of vines here began with Greek settlers who arrived in 600 BC. Its proximity to Vienne was important then and also when that city became a Roman settlement but its situation, far from the negociants of Tain, led to its decline in more modern history. However the 1990s brought with it a revival fueled by one producer, Marcel Guigal, who believed in the zone’s potential. He, along with the critic, Robert Parker, are said to be responsible for the zone’s later 20th century renaissance.
Where the Rhone River turns, there is a build up of schist rock and a remarkable angle that produces slopes to maximize the rays of the sun. Cote Rotie remains one of the steepest in viticultural France. Its varied slopes have two designations. Some are dedicated as Côte Blonde and others as Côte Brune. Syrahs coming from Côte Blonde are lighter, more floral, and ready for earlier consumption—they can also include up to 20% of the highly scented Viognier. Those from Côte Brune are more sturdy, age-worthy and are typically nearly 100% Syrah. Either way, a Cote Rotie is going to have a particularly haunting and savory perfume, expressing a more feminine side of the northern Rhone.