Winemaker Notes
Rare rib or rump of beef, Roast lamb.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A full-bodied, generous, juicy version, offering luscious notes of blackberry preserves, with pink peppercorn, tobacco leaf and smoked apple wood accents. Polished tannins hold a firm grip, while fresh acidity keeps the ripeness balanced. Attractive, with good purity and a thread of smoke on the robust, earthy finish. Drink now through 2033. 1,800 cases made, 290 cases imported.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Incorporating 3% Viognier, the 2022 Côte Rôtie La Germine reveals a concentrated, rich, nicely structured profile of ripe black and blue fruits, crushed stone, and floral, sappy, gamey nuances. Medium to full-bodied, with plenty of mid-palate depth and a great finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 97% Syrah and 3% Viognier, the 2022 Cote Rotie La Germine is showing well today, evoking aromas of dark berries, cedar, spices and licorice intertwined with delicate menthol notes. Medium to full-bodied, elegantly packed and dense, it has a fleshy core of fruit, fine-grained, delicate tannins and a tense palate enhanced by a long, linear texture that segues into an ethereal, mouthwatering and penetrating finish. This stunning Côte-Rôtie, crafted from vines planted on gneiss soils and fermented with 20% of whole clusters, was matured for 18 months in a combination of barrels and large barrels and has a pH is 3.70.
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.