2005 Cotes du Rhone Villages Rasteau

The 2005 Rasteau is tannic, backward, and just massive. The wine needs 6-7 years of cellaring, and should age for 15-20 years as well. It won’t have as much accessibility as the 2006 will in 4-5 years, but it is loaded with similar character, chocolate, black raspberries, and kirsch, intermixed with dusty, loamy soil notes, pepper, and the telltale chocolate that comes from the old vine Grenache that bakes in the sun in this high elevation appellation. This is a beauty, slightly rustic but enormously endowed. This is one of the sensational estates in Rasteau, with proprietor Jerome Bressy farming just over 20 acres of vines. Organic farming and the naturally low yields of his old vines (8-15 hectoliters per hectare) result in wines of extraordinary concentration and intensity. The general blend on his Rasteau is 70% Grenache and the rest Syrah, Mourvedre, and Carignan. Various American importers, including Kysela Pere et Fils, Winchester, VA; tel. (540) 722-9228