1999 Pierre Gaillard Côte-Rôtie les Viallieres

As I reported last year when the wines were still in barrel, the 1999 Cote Roties are awesome. The 1999 Cote Rotie Les Viallieres Reserve (20% Viognier included) offers up a potent perfume of violets, spring flowers, sausage, black fruits, and vanilla. It is tannic as well as full-bodied, dense, backward, and long. This wine is less approachable and civilized than Le Cret. It will be drinkable between 2005-2016. Note: The Gaillard wines I tasted were all cuvees selected by David Hinkle of North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 848-8910. In contrast to Gaillard's other cuvees, the North Berkeley cuvees are aged for a shorter period in new oak (12 versus 18 months). In tasting the other cuvees available throughout the world, there was a substantial difference, with drier, harder tannin because of the longer aging in wood. They are surely very good wines, but readers who do not have access to the North Berkeley cuvees should proceed with caution. Hopefully, Gaillard will realize that there is more fruit and character in the earlier bottled North Berkeley cuvees. Certainly he is doing some serious work. For readers unable to find the North Berkeley cuvees, my ratings on the same Cote Roties and St.-Joseph Clos de Cuminaille bottled after 18 months in wood averaged 2-4 points lower. Importer: David Hinkle, North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 848-8910