Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
A dark, sultry Côte-Rôtie blended from several parcels, this offers a deep well of concentrated black-plum fruit, with ferrous tannins and a stoniness that pins it firmly to the sides of the mouth. For all that brooding flavor, it’s remarkably vibrant in feel, with violet aromas and a soaring arc of acidity to bring it freshness. With 18 months of oak aging, it’s built to cellar, and then to pour with a thick-cut steak.
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Wine Spectator
Juicy and nicely rendered, with dark cherry, plum and blackberry flavors that are laced with sweet bay leaf, sanguine and iron notes. Silky and persistent through the finish, with refined structure.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The only one of Ogier's 2019 Côte Rôties to be bottled at the time of my visit, the 2019 Cote Rotie Mon Village combines soft herbal notes with notions of ripe cherries and strawberry compote. It's medium to full-bodied, supple and almost creamy in texture on the mid-palate, then finishes with a wash of soft, dusty tannins. Reasonably complex and harmonious, it's a nice wine to drink over the rest of the decade. Best After 2023
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.