Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
From the southern part of the appellation (Coteau Bassenon, Maison Rouge, and Lancement) and fermented with 5% Viognier, the 2023 Côte Rôtie Blonde Du Seigneur is deep ruby-hued and has a vibrant nose of ripe red and black cherries, cracked pepper, leather, and sappy flowers. It's medium-bodied, has a concentrated, focused mouthfeel, beautiful mid-palate depth, integrated acidity, and a great finish. Harvest here stretched into the end of September, where nights were much cooler, which helped this hold onto a fresher profile. Drink 2026-2036.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Côte-Rôtie Blonde du Seigneur, sourced from parcels in Bassenon, Maison Rouge and Lancement and including around 5% Viognier, incorporates a small proportion of whole clusters at the base of the vat and was matured in Bordeaux barrels. It opens with a lightly reductive bouquet of dark fruits, blueberry and black cherry. Medium- to full-bodied, dense, tensile and straight, it’s structured and powerful, displaying a fine sense of length and delineation. Marked by the vintage’s characteristic profile, this is a particularly expressive and firm Côte-Rôtie that will benefit from time in the cellar to fully harmonize.
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Wine Spectator
A mineral-driven, salty version, with a perfumed layer of blackberry compote flanked by shaved iron and racy, tangy acidity for a fresh, taut, long finish. Savory on the close. Syrah and Viognier. Best from 2027 through 2035.
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.