2011 Cote Rotie

Beautifully ornate nose with rich black fruit, fresh stemmy aromas, violets and fresh spearmint. A real broad church of flavour here, and shows why Côte Rôtie is so distinctive. Finishes with a strong herby element. (RH)

Vivid ruby. High-pitched red and dark berry aromas are complicated by licorice and candied violet. Lithe and precise in the mouth, offering gently sweet black raspberry and floral pastille flavors that gain weight with air. Smooth and floral on the insistent finish, which is framed by harmonious tannins.

The most perfumed, supple and approachable is the 2011 Cote Rotie Ampodium. Offering up beautiful, almost Burgundian-like, aromas of kirsch, raspberry, bouquet garni, forest floor and sweet spice, it has no hard edges, medium-bodied richness and a seamless, straight up delicious profile that’s hard to resist. Enjoy it over the coming decade. A bastion of traditional wine making, Rene Rostaing (who previously worked in real-estate) has been working the vineyards of Cote Rotie for the past 40 years, yet didn’t really switch to wine full time until the 1990s. He now owns roughly 20 acres of prime terroir, spread across 14 lieux-dits and 20 separate plots (there can be multiple plots within a lieu-dit). Since 1996, he has produced three separate Cote Roties; the Classique (which is now label Ampodium), the La Landonne, and his personal favorite, the Cote Blonde. He has excelled in both 2011 and 2012. In addition to his superb Northern Rhones, Rene also releases a knockout, Syrah-dominated bottling from the Pic Saint-Loup region in the Languedoc. I’ll review those efforts in the upcoming Languedoc issue. Importer: Manny Berk, The Rare Wine Co., Sonoma, CA; tel. (707) 996-4484