2017 Cote Rotie La Giroflarie

Very youthful with some lactic notes – dark-berry fruit – oak is still pretty prominent but integrated into the framework of the wine. Tight palate with iron notes, meaty savoury notes and firm chewy tannins. Attractive yet very tight. (AC)

Deep, glistening ruby. Assertively perfumed aromas of ripe red and blue fruits, exotic spices and candied violet pick up a smoky mineral quality with air. Spicy and sharply delineated on the palate, offering juicy cherry, boysenberry and floral pastille flavors that show impressive energy and back-end lift. Finishes sappy, focused and very long, with fine-grained tannins adding shape and gentle grip.

Jasmin's traditional cuvée—the 2017 Cote Rotie la Giroflarie—is an assemblage of parcels from the Côte Blonde and Côte Brune, a blend of 95% Syrah and 5% Viognier. Tasted from tank prior to a light fining, violets, cassis and hickory smoke appear on the nose of this medium-bodied wine. The tannins seem silky at first, but they firm up considerably on the finish, suggesting well over a decade of ageability.