Winemaker Notes
The wine opens with a dark plum colored hue, and a nose of kirsch and black berries. The moth is full and creamy with flavors of savory olives meshed with plump black cherries. A wine worthy of aging.
Blend: 95% Syrah, 5% Vigonier
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The only red here that incorporates Viognier, the 2018 Côte Rôtie La Germine is 97% Syrah and 3% Viognier brought up in mostly used barrels, with just 20% being new. Its deep ruby/plum hue is followed by gorgeous notes of black raspberries, spring flowers, orange blossom, and sappy herbs. It's medium-bodied, elegant, and lively on the palate, with light tannins and the balance and class to benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and keep for over a decade.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Amazing florals dominate the nose of the 2018 Cote Rotie La Germine. Violets and peach blossoms join hints of licorice and blueberries, while the medium-bodied palate is supremely silky and charming. The finish does show a hint of cedar, but there's a lot to like here, even for purists, as it fades gently away on waves of supple tannins.
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Wine Spectator
Dark, smoldering style, with steeped black currant and black cherry compote flavors lined with black tea, cast iron and dried bay notes. Cast iron note keeps the finish driving along nicely. Best from 2022 through 2034.
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Decanter
This has an easy fruitiness on the nose, raspberries and red plums, and a good sense of purity. Light-bodied, fresh and approachable style. Fine tannins, ending with gentle grip and bright acidity. A mineral touch adds to the length, finishing gently herbal. I would drink young. Doesn't strongly speak of Blonde soils, but is a charming wine. Thirty-year-old vines all from the Blonde side (gneiss bedrock), 80% destemmed, matured 20 months in oak barriques, 20% new.
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.