Maison Nicolas Perrin Cote Rotie 2009
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Robert
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The outstanding 2009 Cote Rotie offers up floral notes intermixed with black cherry, raspberry, forest floor and licorice aromas. This medium-bodied wine’s complex aromatics are followed by elegant yet substantial flavors. Drink it over the next decade.
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The story of Maison Nicolas Perrin is that of two families who come from the two opposite ends of the Rhone valley, North and South.
In the North, Nicolas Jaboulet, who grew up on the hillsides of Hermitage, and the Perrin fmaily who has been in the southern Rhone, primarily in the prestigious appellation of Chateauneuf du pape, since the beginning of the 20th century.
This geographical reunion finds its meaning in the phrase "Axis Mundi." These latin words stand for the 4 cardinal points and symbolize the Cotes de Rhone region divided between the Northern (Septentrional) and the Southern (Meridional) appellations and right and left banks of the Rhone river.
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.