Wine Cellar

Wine:  Condrieu La Bonnette

Wine:  Côte-Rôtie Cuvee Ampodium

The 2009 Cote Rotie Classique exhibits sweeter, riper fruit as well as abundant raspberry and cherry notes intermixed with bacon fat and spice. This is 100% Syrah with no Viognier co-fermented. There is some tannin to shed, but the overall impression is one of flesh and intensity. Robert Parker Expressive peppery dark fruit, a little reductive, as one might expect, but still scented. Tight but already moreish and so fine grained. Sweet, elegant, almost a touch of red fruit on the palate. Very long. 'The wines are not ready for tasting – they have something of the chien fou about them at the moment', says Rostaing. Jancis Robinson, Landing March 2012

Wine:  Côte-Rôtie Cuvee Ampodium

The 2010 Cote Rotie Ampodium is performing much better from bottle than it did last year. Fashioned from a dozen separate terroirs in Cote Rotie, it exhibits tell-tale notes of licorice, tapenade, black currants and black raspberries with a floral component in the background. Beautifully textured, medium to full-bodied, rich and opulent, this superb Cote Rotie can be drunk now or cellared for 10-15 years.

Wine:  Côte-Rôtie Cuvee Terroirs

Fine delicate spice – nutmeg and white pepper (as in 2002, Rostaing notes) - but also herbal, leafy and white-peppered on the palate. Tense and fine with a fine grip. Of the three Rostaing Côtes Rôties, this is the perhaps the lightest but the most complete at the moment and I think it will give more pleasure in relative youth while that perfume is still fresh Landing March 2012

Wine:  Côte-Rôtie Côte Blonde

The beautiful 2009 Cote Rotie Cote Blonde offers up aromas of pepper, bouquet garni, spring flowers, roasted meats, black raspberries and kirsch. This fragrant, spicy, floral, opulent, voluptuously textured, medium to full-bodied 2009 possesses terrific purity (a hallmark of all the Rostaing wines). It, too, should drink nicely for 10-15 years, but there is no reason to delay your gratification. Landing March 2012

Drinking period: 2011-2026

Wine:  Côte-Rôtie La Landonne

The prodigious 2010 Cote Rotie La Landonne reveals a dense purple color along with a huge, impressive perfume of roasted meats, black currants, black raspberries and scorched earth. This 100% Syrah comes from vines planted on exceptionally steep slopes composed of schist and iron-like sub-soils. Some graphite also makes an appearance in this mineral-dominated, well-delineated, rich, intense wine.

Wine:  Côte-Rôtie La Landonne

Showing beautifully, the 2009 Cote Rotie La Landonne offers aromas of tapenade, bouquet garni, asphalt, blackberries, cassis, roasted meats and additional black fruits. More evolved and softer than the 2010, with a long, full-bodied finish, it can be drunk now and over the next 10-15 years, Landing March 2012

Drinking period: 2011-2026

Wine:  Puech Noble Blanc

After surprisingly disappointing showings for Puech Noble’s 2009 and (unbottled) 2010, I was relieved that their 2008 Coteaux du Languedoc white displayed more the combination of richness and refreshment, enticing fruit with floral and mineral nuance that I hope for from this cuvee of Grenache Blanc, Vermentino, and (minority) Viognier. There is a Riesling-like call and response of lime and grapefruit with crushed stone and faintly fusil notes on a silken yet juicy palate, accompanied by an alluring bouquet of orange blossom, iris, and acacia. Even here there is a hint of detached malic tartness in the finish such as I often perceive in Puech Noble’s white, but it scarcely detracts from the overall satisfaction that this wine should continue to deliver for at least another year or two. While slightly less-flattering today than the 2007 was when last tasted in December 2008, this certainly appears to have greater stamina (Tasted alongside, the aforementioned 2007 – which I strongly praised in issue 183 – is now slipping a bit, its minerality turning slightly dank and the fruit falling away slightly in its finish, suggesting that my “2-3 year” aging projection was about right. Rostaing, however, continues to maintain that his white “needs 2-3 years in bottle to show at its best,” and tried to demonstrate this by showing me the 2006 again, which was indeed more expressive than the 2007, but rather bitter in finish now and in my view definitely needing to be drunk.) Charges Apply, Landing March 2012

Wine:  Puech Noble Blanc

Wine:  Puech Noble Rouge

Although my colleague, David Schildknecht, covers the Coteaux de Languedoc region, when I visit Rostaing I always taste his Coteaux de Languedoc Puech Noble, and his 2009 is a blend of 70% Syrah, the rest equal parts Mourvedre and Grenache, and includes 100% stems. A sleeper of the vintage that sells for a song, it is one of those wines I search for on restaurant wine lists when I am traveling as it is a great value. Rich, peppery, blackberry and black currant notes intermixed with notions of kirsch, licorice and tapenade are found in this stunning 2009. The good news is that there are approximately 1,400 cases produced.

Wine:  Syrah Les Lezards

Wine:  Viognier Les Lezards