1990 Cote Rotie Les Roziers

This firm continues to produce an impressive array of luxury cuvees that include Cote Rotie-Les Roziers, Hermitage-Les Greffieres, St.-Joseph-Les Anges, Cote Rotie-Vagonier, and now Crozes-Hermitage-L'Arnage. Their standard cuvees from the northern Rhone are straightforward and pleasant, but unexciting. So if you are going to shop at this address, my advice is to pay the higher prices for their top cuvees, which can rival the best made in the northern Rhone. The Cote Rotie-Les Roziers is different than the precocious, forward style of the Cote Rotie-Vagonier. This impressive wine, which is aged in small oak casks, displays a deeper color and is a more powerful and massive wine. The 1990 is slightly richer and more complete than the 1991, with superb density, a rich, full-bodied personality, and gobs of black fruit, glycerin, toasty new oak, as well as tannin. Approachable now, it should last for 10-12 years. For the record, the best Cote Rotie-Les Roziers to date has been the 1988. Importer: William Grant and Sons, New York, NY.