Tardieu-Laurent Rasteau Vieilles Vignes 2016
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Enthusiast
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The 2016 Tardieu-Laurent Rasteau Vieilles Vignes is an intense and engaging wine with tremendous depth in color. Bright fruit, striking structures, with a singular quality of the tannin. Absolutely delicious to drink young, fresh, yet with a structure, a fleshiness, a balance, which promise them an unprecedented destiny.
Blend: 65% Grenache, 25% Syrah and 10% Mourvèdre
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Rasteau Vieilles Vignes was one of my favorites in the lineup and this beauty has everything you could want from this appellation. Chocolate, black fruits, espresso and graphite aromas give way to a ripe, building, concentrated 2016 that has fabulous purity. It has plenty of tannins as well, but they’re mostly covered by loads of fruit at the moment.
Rating: 92-94
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Wine Enthusiast
This bold, aromatic wine bursts with ripe black-cherry and berry flavors. Plush and opulent, it offers layers of vanilla, toast and spice, balanced elegantly by earth tones and a crushed mineral freshness. Tannins are upright but tipped with chalk.
Editor's Choice
Other Vintages
2011-
Robert
Parker
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Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker
Tardieu-Laurent is very much an "artisan" producer, making between half a dozen and 20 or so barrels of each wine. The majority of the wines are from the southern Rhône although superb cuvees of Cote Rôtie and Hermitage are also produced. The wines are all aged in small oak casks (often 100% new) and bottled with no fining nor filtration. Michel Tardieu proclaims himself as a confirmed terroirist, insisting that his aim with each appellation is to express powerfully the fruit and sense of place, never masking these factors with wood.
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
A highly successful southern Rhone village promoted to Cotes du Rhone Villages status because of its intense and heady red wines, Rasteau is also recognized for its fortified wine, Vin Doux Naturel. Grenache is responsible for both styles. Rasteau also produces refreshing white and rosé table wines.