September 19, 2021 - Opened and left to rest for a good hour. We felt it was fragile so we didn't decant but with hindsight this was wrong and should have have decanted.
Quite dark in color still ( Nicol who had this blind went for 15yr Cote Rotie) soft smoky, light spice, well managed across and elegant for a 2002 and here it shows the quality of the wine maker who went for short maceration to avoid green tannins that plagued most of 2002s in northern Rhone. Silky on the edges and very solid but lacks the La Mouline wow side that we so much look for. We have 2 more bottled and we will let them rest for another 5-7 years minimum hopefully 10+. 92 - 93 for now.
January 22, 2021 - Online Blind Tasting #3 (Online): *** brief notes from online blind tasting ***
Note is based on a tasting sip in the morning on day one, ~4cl on the evening and 0,1l filled in a bottle and sealed with argon gas on the evening of day three.
Glass: Zalto Universal
Clear deep garnet color with tawny/brown edges. Clean, medium intense, fully developed nose with some leather, spices, meat, tobacco and some green, harsh notes.
Dry, high, quite well integrated acidity. 13% abv. Medium+, fine grained tannin. Fine red fruit, leather, meat, some green/harsh notes. Elegant, good balance, nice texture. Lacks the usual pressure, depth and tension of Mouline, but a very good effort for this very complicated year. I would say, that it has not much potential and will rather decline with time, so drink up now. 91
July 12, 2020 - Still tight and needs to be decanted. Overall an excellent wine for a difficult vintage.
June 14, 2020 - Fine Wines SG - Rhone Tasting Set (Delivered to Home): Deep ruby, and seems having a blackish tone, and slight edge fading. Nose that started off as slightly restrained and herbal, and then a good nuance of purple flowers and ripe blackberry, and nutmeg. Tannic, high alcohol, with a lot of pepper, and blackberry flavours, and heightened alcohol. Then some redcurrants and fern leaf emerge, along with clove and nutmeg spices. The redcurrant persisted onto the back, with a fairly long finish. Nice!
May 27, 2020 - Decanted for two hours. Pleasant and has age potential. Respect more negative swinging comments below but I would vote to pack 6 away and drink over next 10-20 years. I would argue a reasonable QPR given region and vineyard.
April 12, 2020 - Very ordinary, a bad year
November 9, 2019 - Best bottle (Restaurant Holz und Feuer, Kirchheim, Germany): Glass: Gabriel Standard
Popped and poured, not decanted. My bottle and I sucked. I did not dare to decant it, but it would have certainly benefitted. Clear, deep purple color. Clean, youthful developing nose. Classic Syrah fruit, spices, some green notes. Not as deep and complex as a fully mature vintage, but nice.
On the palate with a racy, well integrated acidity. Very dense and young. Nice Syrah fruit, some green and harsh notes, black pepper. Dense. Good balance. Given the complicated vintage a very good wine, but not worth the price tag though. 92+
September 27, 2019 - (SYP) one glass. Noticeable vanilla oak nose with dark fruit, caramel and coffee bean. Silky tannins. Elegant yet quite powerful. Preferred this wine over the 05 Rene Rostaing La Landonne served alongside. 93+
May 25, 2019 - at the home of two dogs, with friends old and new: dark ruby color. Nose savory dark fruit with bacon aroma. Palate sweet fruit, chocolatey. a bit too rich/modern however perhaps it needed more time (either sideways or in a decanter)? 89 pts.
August 23, 2018 - On Thursday, we drank a few wines from the North Rhone blindly. Well made wines, but with very different styles. The WOTN was the E. Guigal Cotie Rotie La Mouline 2002. Classic and consistent. Amazing. The second wine was the Thierry Alemand Cornas Chaillot 2011. Great wine. For some it was the WOTN. The third wine was the Clusel Roch Cote Rotie 2006. Modern style. Good. The 4th wine was a huge disappointment. Bernard Levet's Cotie Rotie La Chavaroche 2012 looked like a Chilean wine with excess of guava.