Winemaker Notes
Côte Rôtie has a long and illustrious history with numerous enthusiasts worldwide. In the eighteenth century, Thomas Jefferson visited Côte Rôtie while he was America's ambassador to France and described the wine region as "a string of broken hills extending a league on the river from the village of Ampuis to the town of Condrieu." Jefferson had become an expert on wine after traveling to all of the major wine regions within France, Italy and Germany to taste, discuss and buy wine. And his personal pleasure in wine was clear: "Good wine is a daily necessity for me," he wrote. During his visit Jefferson purchased Côte Rôtie, having it bottled and put in wooden cases for shipment to his home in Paris. And in 1787 he wrote about his Côte Rôtie wines: "There is a quality which keeps well, bears transportation and that cannot be drunk under four years."
Eric's Côte Rôtie is a rich and velvety wine reminiscent of the elegance found in Burgundian Pinot Noir. A perfumed and intense nose of cassis and smoky bacon fat with hints of violet combined with the crisp acidity and fine tannins build a complex and perfectly balanced palate for this sensational wine. You can easily expect Eric's Côte Rôtie to age gracefully from 10 to 20 years.
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.