2003 Pierre Gaillard Côte-Rôtie les Viallieres

Also incorporating a healthy chunk of Viognier, the 2003 Cote Rotie Viallieres is more youthful, with plenty of violets, black cherry, currant, dried pepper and floral aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied and rich, it’s beautifully balanced, has a fabulous mid-palate and a clean finish. Drink it over the coming decade. Located in the northern part of Saint Joseph, Pierre Gaillard fashions classic, old-school-styled reds from Saint Joseph and Cote Rotie. For this tasting, I had some bottle variation with a few of these, and a number showed excessive acidity from other bottles. As always with these older vintages, Provenance is critical, and even then, sometime you’re just unlucky.