2015 Cote Rotie Seigneur de Maugiron

Glass-staining violet color. Displays spice-accented aromas of ripe dark fruits, violet and cola, with an emphatic mineral topnote. Palate-coating blackberry and floral pastille flavors show excellent depth along with vivaciousness thanks to zesty acidity and bright minerality. The strikingly long, penetrating finish repeats the sweet dark fruit and floral qualities, harmonious tannins and a hint of allspice.

The 2015 Côte Rôtie Seigneur De Maugiron is a little gem of a wine, and I suspect the finest vintage I’ve tasted for the cuvée. Rounded, full-bodied, voluptuous, and impeccably balanced, it offers lots of spice, cured meats and black fruits, sweet tannin, and a great mid-palate. It has considerable elegance and purity, and is more sexy and approachable than the more structured Côte Rôtie La Landonne. It should keep for 10-12 years easily. If you want to check out the style of this estate, this is a great place to start. Delas Frères is located just outside of Saint-Jean-de-Muzols and has plenty of prime parcels spread throughout the entire northern Rhône Valley. The 2015s are the finest wines I’ve tasted from this estate since the 2010s, and if anything, the wines appear to be slightly more balanced and polished, with less obvious oak. The 2016s are less showy, yet have very classic, balanced profiles, and this is unquestionably another good vintage for this estate, which appears to be firing on all cylinders.

The 2015 Cote Rotie Seigneur de Maugiron is a blend of several parcels in the Côte Brune and the Côte Blonde, aged in new and second use barrels. It's less aromatic than many of its brethren at this point, but it does offer attractive red berry aromas bolstered by red and black fruit on the palate with hints of cracked pepper and smoke. It's a serious effort, with dusty tannins that suggest it will age gracefully for a decade or two.