Winemaker Notes
Flavors and aromas of smoked ham, violet, graphite, cold ash and liquorice.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This has a little sauvage note peeking out, with bay leaf and game accents adding range to the rich core of crushed plum and blackberry fruit. Best from 2019-2030.
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James Suckling
Impressive blackberry, dark spices and tarry nuances on the nose with a wealth of interest and youthful complexity. The palate has plenty of star anise, dark cherry and blackberry flavor with orange rind, too. Smooth tannins with power. Best from 2020.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
He also makes a traditional style of Cote Rotie that’s not destemmed and is brought up in barrel (I believe mostly older barrels). The 2015 Cote Rotie is loaded with gamy and meaty characteristics, as well as blackcurrants, raspberries, olive tapenade and loads of peppery spice. Full-bodied, layered and beautifully ripe, forget bottles for 4-5 years and enjoy over the following decade or more.
Range: (91-93)+ -
Wine & Spirits
A flashy Côte-Rôtie, this is heady with floral notes and the sweet spice of new oak, rich in plummy fruit, with a stony minerality to balance.
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.