2012 Côte-Rôtie, Côte Blonde, Domaine René Rostaing, Rhône
- Red
- Dry
- Medium Bodied
- Syrah
Ready - mature
- Jeb Dunnuck
- 97/100
Product: 20121116043
Description
Our 2012 Rhône Vintage Recommendation: Favourite Côte-Rôtie
A fine example of terroir speaking for itself, the Côte Blonde is made in just the same method as La Landonne. This has a weighty and powerful profile but is nonetheless made up of bright and elegant elements, redcurrant, spicy wild and dry strawberries on the nose and a hint of rose coming later.
Guy Davies, Wine Team
This is big, rich and stinky on the nose, loads of dark, brooding black fruit, with fragrant, lifted notes fighting their way through. Lush, black and spicy fruit on the palate, it has loads of fine integrated tannins, wonderful freshness, and one can almost taste the limestone soil. Elegant, fine and long: almost perfect.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager
The Côte Blonde contains 3 or 4% of Viognier and yet is the most reserved member of the family. Given time it will blossom into one of the definitive statements of the entire Rhône valley; its youth is marked by dense red fruit, spice and pepper, with hints of cedar and tobacco also evidenced.
Simon Field MW, Rhône Wine Buyer
One can usually rely on M. Rostaing for an aphoristic analysis of the vintage in question. 2012, he has decided, offers. ‘le plaisir évident mais avec le sérieux derrière’. Hardly Oscar Wilde, but the message is clear. Whilst perhaps not an iron fist in a velvet glove, the vintage offers, pace the great man, plenty of substance and ageing potential. The imposition of a Latin name on his main cuvée has, it seems, been a success and he maintains his fleet of roto-fermentors, de-stemming the grapes as and when appropriate and now ageing the significant majority of his wines in demi-muid.
A fine example of terroir speaking for itself, the Côte Blonde is made in just the same method as La Landonne. This has a weighty and powerful profile but is nonetheless made up of bright and elegant elements, redcurrant, spicy wild and dry strawberries on the nose and a hint of rose coming later.
Guy Davies, Wine Team
This is big, rich and stinky on the nose, loads of dark, brooding black fruit, with fragrant, lifted notes fighting their way through. Lush, black and spicy fruit on the palate, it has loads of fine integrated tannins, wonderful freshness, and one can almost taste the limestone soil. Elegant, fine and long: almost perfect.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager
The Côte Blonde contains 3 or 4% of Viognier and yet is the most reserved member of the family. Given time it will blossom into one of the definitive statements of the entire Rhône valley; its youth is marked by dense red fruit, spice and pepper, with hints of cedar and tobacco also evidenced.
Simon Field MW, Rhône Wine Buyer
One can usually rely on M. Rostaing for an aphoristic analysis of the vintage in question. 2012, he has decided, offers. ‘le plaisir évident mais avec le sérieux derrière’. Hardly Oscar Wilde, but the message is clear. Whilst perhaps not an iron fist in a velvet glove, the vintage offers, pace the great man, plenty of substance and ageing potential. The imposition of a Latin name on his main cuvée has, it seems, been a success and he maintains his fleet of roto-fermentors, de-stemming the grapes as and when appropriate and now ageing the significant majority of his wines in demi-muid.
Colour Red
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2012
Maturity Ready - mature
Grape List Syrah
Body Medium Bodied
Producer Domaine René Rostaing
Critics reviews
Jeb Dunnuck 97/100
I think the best wine here (at the moment anyways) is the 2012 Cote Rotie Cote Blonde. More reserved and closed initially, it has subtle, yet seductive notes of black raspberry, blackberry, toasted spice, smoke earth and cured meat that gradually open up in the glass. This is followed by a full-bodied, dense, substantial Cote Rotie that has awesome polish to its tannin, a great mid-palate and a smoking finish. It too needs short-term cellaring, but will keep for 2-3 decades.jeb_dunnuck - 30/12/2014
About this wine
Syrah/Shiraz
A noble black grape variety grown particularly in the Northern Rhône where it produces the great red wines of Hermitage, Cote Rôtie and Cornas, and in Australia where it produces wines of startling depth and intensity. Reasonably low yields are a crucial factor for quality as is picking at optimum ripeness. Its heartland, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, consists of 270 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards producing wines that brim with pepper, spices, tar and black treacle when young. After 5-10 years they become smooth and velvety with pronounced fruit characteristics of damsons, raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries. It is now grown extensively in the Southern Rhône where it is blended with Grenache and Mourvèdre to produce the great red wines of Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas amongst others. Its spiritual home in Australia is the Barossa Valley, where there are plantings dating as far back as 1860. Australian Shiraz tends to be sweeter than its Northern Rhône counterpart and the best examples are redolent of new leather, dark chocolate, liquorice, and prunes and display a blackcurrant lusciousness. South African producers such as Eben Sadie are now producing world- class Shiraz wines that represent astonishing value for money.
Find out more
Need help?
Delivery and Quality Guarantee
Registered company 05492886. BB&R Limited, trading as Berry Bros. & Rudd, 3 St James's Street, London, SW1A 1EG. All rights reserved. You must be 18 or over to order. Calls may be recorded.
