It's been several years since we last had this wine, and it's benefitted from the time sideways. An elegant example of Côte Rôtie, displaying maturity and balance. Lovely texture, subtle but beguiling nose, and a pleasure to drink. Held well over three days under a Vacuvin cork, throwing only a small amount of sediment. Well stored bottles should be in prime drinking window, with years to go.
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Dull ruby with an orange meniscus, medium viscosity. Dried red and blue fruits, meat, leather, tobacco aromas coming through. The tannins were resolved and the wine still had plenty of acidity. Dry wine, medium acidity, medium minus tannins, medium body and alcohol. Long finish with more meaty smoky flavors. Very well balanced and complex. Yum!
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Third bottle within the year and the best showing. Color seems concentrated and darker. The wine, while still too light for what one expects from Cote Rotie, has a meatier taste and darker fruit. It was a nice pairing with leg of lamb. Excellent.
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Pretty, elegant Cote Rotie. Floral on the nose, color starting to fade hazily. Still plenty of life on the palate, lots of fruit and acid to support. Definitely in its drinking window.
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Delicious, dark purple opaque fresh, herbaceous black raspberry and cassis, tears medium thick and fast, clean fresh ripe fruits, easy drinking straight out of bottle, not overly complex, medium intensity and clean finish. Probably wonderful with roasted chicken.
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Got this recently from producer. Cork was dried out. Initial nose with red berries, plums and some peppery spices. Palate completely unbalanced. High acidity, no grip, no fruit, some "old wine" notes. Nose also died quickly and developed more and more unpleasant notes. Not drinkable. Off bottle?
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Reddish-brown brick color, almost translucent. Nose reminds me of Burgundy with cherry fruit, earth, mushroom and mild spice. Palate is bright with fruit with acid backbone, again with earth and mushroom. It's nice and if from Crozes or even Saint Joseph this could be considered a stunner at 13 years after the vintage. But it's a tasty light wine from Côte Rôtie and in that sense a disappointment, missing the bacon, meat and smoke. Nonetheless, enjoyable for what it is, especially since after tasting a bottle in winter was expecting this. Though light, the acid made it a fine companion to New York strips with "wild" rice (actually brown rices with forbidden rice). Excellent.
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Taste: Medium bodied with medium+ acidity and medium tannins. The structure is fairly resolved here with silky tannins. The feel is elegant, but like the nose is lacking depth with raspberries, black pepper, crushed rocks, and some red cherries.
Overall: This was sadly boring. It never seemed to fully rev up and reveal itself. Instead it was simple and not all that exciting.
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Syrah dinner at Formento's (Chicago, IL): I loved the red fruit and stemminess on the nose on this, though it did give way to a little bit more earthy funk with air. On the palate though, this is where it misses the mark. This is a bit unintegrated and angular, with more than a few angles here and there. Lots and lots of acidity, without much plushness or density to knit everything together. A workable bottle of syrah which definitely suffered being served after much denser wines.
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Strawberry nose perfectly serviceable well structured decent value afternoon quaff for casual lunch good with food. Lean feel related to metallic , red bright fruit slight spice, drinking well now, no sense holding.
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2004 Rhone Tasting chez Lillelund (Lilleund's home): Bizarre nose, roasted and green at the same time. Metallic smell. Uninteresting, not worth spending time on in this setting. Went down the bucket fast.
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The nose is well developed, quite complex, yet restrained. The palate is lean, well-built, sinewy, with light, spicy, smoothened tannins. Doesn't have the unripe pyrazine greenness of Jamet's 04. So elegant, a real treat!
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Opened for the Other side of July 4th on WB. Ruby red core with some bricking on the edges. Spicy black peppery funk, some stewed tomatoes nose. A bit simple on the palate.. Red fruit, nice acidity.. Other than a bit of a bitter finish the wine isn't bad, well balanced, and goes down easy.
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Smelled good with a nice smokey nose, sort of flat on the palate. Gave it a couple of hours to come around and then gave up on it. It's probably seen better days.
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Friday Night Double Blind Tasting $40+ (Bin 75): Dense cloudy core of dark red with light rim; raw meat, balsamic, tomato, raspberry, funk; smooth texture, plush, balanced; drinking really well right now; very tasty.
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Aerated into decanter and was mixed randomly in a group of 6 wines for a double blind tasting.
Nearly everyone (including myself) guessed this was a Burgundy from a ripe year. Very light red in color - Beautiful nose - floral, earthy, cranberry, red currants, black tea. Similar flavor profile on palate. Medium to light body, rich acidity & long finish with some velvety tannins still there. I loved this. 93+
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Beautiful dark ruby color, but clear, having transparency of Burgundy wines. As suggested by appearance, there is no much body. Flavor is unusual if not strange. There are no berries, fruits or flowers, but complex and rather intensive flavor of mostly grass and leaves, clove comes to mind, and olives. Birthday party did not provide the right environment for the analysis. Acids are plentiful, and there are some tannins and tart creating an illusion of young wine. At the end there is a taste of langenberries and cranberries, especially their tart. There is a feeling that grapes were not ripe enough to reach the potential. Overall, elegant wine, resembling Burgundy wines more than Rhône wines. Interesting, but, IMHO, overpriced.
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Still pretty young, and not tired at all like some earlier tasting notes may have suggested...a little funk upon opening, but that blew off in 30 minutes to reveal basil, ripe tomatoes, red flowers, red fruits, and a great amount of complexity on the nose. I kept smelling this. Not a crowd pleaser (not everyone liked it), and not as thick or rich as I would have liked, but a really good example of a "burgndian" cool climate syrah. Lots of acid, subtle red fruits, and a decent finish. The vintage is definitely not helping to elevate this, but I could see this lasting and getting a bit better over the next 5 years. Too expensive for the flavor profile/quality for me, unfortunately. 2010 northern rhone St. Josephs (i.e Gonon) and Texier syrahs @ $30-40 are much better wines IMO.
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Crimson color with bricking; stank on the nose with some sulpher notes, some green characteristic (veggies) on the nose along with some red fruit; weighty on the palate with red fruit, some tannin yet velvety mouthfeel. Could have sworn this was Burgundy because of the stank, great acid, and lack of pepper. There was also some strong minerality on the finish- probably calcaire.
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By far, BY FAR, the best I have ever had this wine. I bought it years ago because it was a Kermit Lynch Cote Rotie. Sure, right? Why not. And then, for years, men's gym socks. Not good, and I thought a waste of money. So I through it into this line up for fun.
Now: sweet tomato leaf, there were discussions of french women and how they might smell after a night together (in a romantic way) and smooth and pure. Interesting, not anything like an aged Cornas. And still lots of drive and energy on the palate. No reason to drink up.
So how did this wine get to French woman from gym socks?
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Medium garnet color, transparent but slightly cloudy. Aromas of smoke, black pepper, earth and leather. Flavours of raspberry, and other red fruits, some black pepper and spice. Drank over two days and it remained a rather lean palate. It's feminine and medium bodied with a balanced finish. Drink now, can't see this evolving into something more.
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med ruby, starting to garnet; med developing, leather, herbs, some musty earth, som eberry fruit comes and goes; dry, med+ acid, med tannin, med alcohol/body/intensity/finish, strawberry, blackberry, pepper; good- still has good acidity but age that is on the nose doesn't come through on the palate, lacking a clear sense of self
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Clear, garnet color with medium intensity. A somewhat restrained, elegant nose of leather, black fruit, earth and olives. Initially somewhat shy on the palate, it blossomed over time to show decent intensity, not overwhelming but with lovely balance between fruit and herbal notes. This isn't a showy wine, its much too subtle for that, and it while it speaks softly, with a modest 12.5% alcohol, it still has plenty to say.
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Dang, this is good. Brought it to Little Bird Bistro for an anniversary celebration. It's drinking well, in a settled-down but youthful way - not much in the way of secondary flavors. Lovely silky texture, fine tannins, food-friendly acidity. Not a blockbuster by any means, but elegant and very well-balanced, loaded with Rhone-ish goodness.
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Four guys, four wines; 12/19/2011-12/20/2011 (Seattle, WA): Deep garnet red. Nose and palate were quite tight for an hour or so. Once it opened, we got a lovely contrast in Syrah. The nose was a textbook mix of floral aromatics wrapped around pepper and savory/briny smells. Some dark fruit comes through with some air time as well. The palate showed in contrast, a medium bodied, elegant wine. A very delicious expression of acidity manifests in bright citrus flavors on the first sip. It shows varying weight and layers as it moves through the palate, showing some black olive, black pepper and some dark fruit. Medium length finish. Soft, but some chalky tannins add some depth.
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At Woodfire Grill (Atlanta). Tight nose out of the bottle - opens up with time to reveal black fruit, olive, black pepper and hint of violets. Palate is medium-bodied with peppery black fruit and tapenade. For of us drank through the bottle within 90 minutes of popping, so it never opened up to show plushness or layering. Solid Cote Rotie -- but missing some richness and the bacon fat that I really look for in great northern Rhone syrah.
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Probably drank years too early but still faired quite nicely as it opened up over a couple hours. Things staring to come into glance with good fruit giving way to aromatics and herbal influences.
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Beautiful wine...had with lunch at 11 Madison. Aromas exploded from glass with a slight barnyard note. Inside was pure elegance and finesse. well balanced now - no noticeable tannin or acidity out of place. Good to drink now or hold for longer.
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Nose is clean, medium - (the bottle was just opened), and from what little I can tell is still youthful (!) with just fruit character showing off.
Palate is dry with medium - alcohol.
Palate is, if I may step out of my WSET confines for a moment, just a dream. The tannins are fine grained and medium -. The body is medium - and the acidity is medium. But the flavor intensity is medium + with a lengthy long finish. It is one of those wines that is so easy to drink. As Hugh Johnson says, it goes down like water.
This is a very good wine that needs to be decanted to show its hand. I am excited about where it goes and we shall see.
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Medium garnet turning rust color with a tiny bit of bricking at the rim. Upon opening the nose has some gamy, red cherry, mushroom compost aromas, but after air it turns to an elegant almost CDP like nose of licorice and spice. The palate is very elegant with medium acidity and a medium plus finish. This is definitely showing the elegant Cote Blonde terroir.
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COLOR - pale red, not very intense. NOSE - more alcohol than fruit, but a good steely minerality. TASTE - I can almost taste the terraced slopes of ferruginous mica schists. For some reason, if this was an Italian wine, I would rate it more highly; this is as old world as it gets. RATING - 88.
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A nose of red apples and fresh cut hay pre-baling, with damp manure-tilled earth, not purely one or the other. The fruit on the palate is significantly more muted than I remember, but with more of that fresh hay presence that I absolutely adore. As I recall, this has another day to go to hit the spot I really like it in and become all of the things I really associate with this bottling.
Note: Out of bordeaux glass. 95% syrah, 5% viognier. Cote Rotie, 50% Cote Baudin, 50% Cote Blond.
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Grilled venison, civet sauce, sour cherries, bacon, rosemary garlic. Basically the whole grill is in there. Lindsay notes hay. Nate notes that it is one of the most elegant Cote Roties he has had. I would agree. Needs some time.
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Mushrooms, manure, and hay on the nose. Pungent but not unpleasant to this girl used to spending time with the horses...like perfume to me, really. On the palate, more mushrooms and hay over the fruit. Fantastic svelte body. Perhaps I've been watching too much Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern, but if I was looking for a wine to go with goat...this would be it. So I suppose it would go well with lamb, too. The hay and mushrooms swirling in this are wonderful and call out for gamey meat.
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The strength of the dried flower, Provencale herbs, brambly red fruits and earth aromas intensifies after an hour or so in the decanter. It is perfumed and textured in the mouth with loads of Garrigue and earthiness without being too wild. There is a little oak derived creaminess adding to the mouthfeel and the finish is crisp with reasonable length.
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smells and tastes a lot like a cote de nuits. light to med. bodied, very red fruit fragrant with hints of green and meaty overtones. good structure and very approachable now. nice and elegant.
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Lots of minerality and cherry fruit on both the nose and palate. There is also an interesting briney note on the nose. Light to medium bodied. Relatively unobtrusive tannins.
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1/19/2021 - Brix Likes this wine: 90 Points
It's been several years since we last had this wine, and it's benefitted from the time sideways. An elegant example of Côte Rôtie, displaying maturity and balance. Lovely texture, subtle but beguiling nose, and a pleasure to drink. Held well over three days under a Vacuvin cork, throwing only a small amount of sediment. Well stored bottles should be in prime drinking window, with years to go.
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10/5/2020 - Gaurav_Tiwari Likes this wine: 94 Points
Dull ruby with an orange meniscus, medium viscosity. Dried red and blue fruits, meat, leather, tobacco aromas coming through. The tannins were resolved and the wine still had plenty of acidity. Dry wine, medium acidity, medium minus tannins, medium body and alcohol. Long finish with more meaty smoky flavors. Very well balanced and complex. Yum!
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12/8/2017 - theRealPepe Likes this wine: 91 Points
Third bottle within the year and the best showing. Color seems concentrated and darker. The wine, while still too light for what one expects from Cote Rotie, has a meatier taste and darker fruit. It was a nice pairing with leg of lamb. Excellent.
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10/9/2017 - derek.hara@sbcglobal.net Likes this wine: 90 Points
Pretty, elegant Cote Rotie. Floral on the nose, color starting to fade hazily. Still plenty of life on the palate, lots of fruit and acid to support.
Definitely in its drinking window.
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8/30/2017 - Bacchus&Ceres wrote: 89 Points
Delicious, dark purple opaque fresh, herbaceous black raspberry and cassis, tears medium thick and fast, clean fresh ripe fruits, easy drinking straight out of bottle, not overly complex, medium intensity and clean finish. Probably wonderful with roasted chicken.
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6/24/2017 - Seb Frefranc wrote:
Got this recently from producer. Cork was dried out. Initial nose with red berries, plums and some peppery spices. Palate completely unbalanced. High acidity, no grip, no fruit, some "old wine" notes. Nose also died quickly and developed more and more unpleasant notes. Not drinkable. Off bottle?
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6/7/2017 - robferguson1 wrote: 88 Points
Drinks well, strawberry style , thin , not the guts you'd expect from cote route but acaequate
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5/29/2017 - theRealPepe Likes this wine: 90 Points
Reddish-brown brick color, almost translucent. Nose reminds me of Burgundy with cherry fruit, earth, mushroom and mild spice. Palate is bright with fruit with acid backbone, again with earth and mushroom. It's nice and if from Crozes or even Saint Joseph this could be considered a stunner at 13 years after the vintage. But it's a tasty light wine from Côte Rôtie and in that sense a disappointment, missing the bacon, meat and smoke. Nonetheless, enjoyable for what it is, especially since after tasting a bottle in winter was expecting this. Though light, the acid made it a fine companion to New York strips with "wild" rice (actually brown rices with forbidden rice). Excellent.
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1/15/2017 - KeithAkers wrote: 85 Points
Cassoulet with (mostly) Cote-Rotie&Hermitage (Jordan's, Northbrook IL): Nose: The nose is a bit simple and straight forward with raspberries, red cherries, black pepper, and crushed rocks. There seems to lack the expression this can bring and the nose never woke up.
Taste: Medium bodied with medium+ acidity and medium tannins. The structure is fairly resolved here with silky tannins. The feel is elegant, but like the nose is lacking depth with raspberries, black pepper, crushed rocks, and some red cherries.
Overall: This was sadly boring. It never seemed to fully rev up and reveal itself. Instead it was simple and not all that exciting.
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2/18/2016 - acyso wrote: 88 Points
Syrah dinner at Formento's (Chicago, IL): I loved the red fruit and stemminess on the nose on this, though it did give way to a little bit more earthy funk with air. On the palate though, this is where it misses the mark. This is a bit unintegrated and angular, with more than a few angles here and there. Lots and lots of acidity, without much plushness or density to knit everything together. A workable bottle of syrah which definitely suffered being served after much denser wines.
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1/31/2016 - Bacchus&Ceres Likes this wine: 89 Points
Strawberry nose perfectly serviceable well structured decent value afternoon quaff for casual lunch good with food. Lean feel related to metallic , red bright fruit slight spice, drinking well now, no sense holding.
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11/5/2015 - beatles Does not like this wine:
Tired, lean – no good.
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11/5/2015 - pbaek wrote:
2004 Rhone Tasting chez Lillelund (Lilleund's home): Bizarre nose, roasted and green at the same time. Metallic smell. Uninteresting, not worth spending time on in this setting. Went down the bucket fast.
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4/12/2015 - T.E.D. wrote: 87 Points
Very old world and lean.
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3/29/2015 - pcwoz Likes this wine: 90 Points
very nicely balanced. Very very good. Not massive fireworks but very well made. Red fruits end of spectrum. Once secondary development
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10/9/2014 - Finare Vinare wrote: 92 Points
The nose is well developed, quite complex, yet restrained. The palate is lean, well-built, sinewy, with light, spicy, smoothened tannins. Doesn't have the unripe pyrazine greenness of Jamet's 04. So elegant, a real treat!
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7/3/2014 - mye wrote: 87 Points
Opened for the Other side of July 4th on WB. Ruby red core with some bricking on the edges. Spicy black peppery funk, some stewed tomatoes nose.
A bit simple on the palate.. Red fruit, nice acidity.. Other than a bit of a bitter finish the wine isn't bad, well balanced, and goes down easy.
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5/17/2014 - Catnapped Does not like this wine: 83 Points
Smelled good with a nice smokey nose, sort of flat on the palate. Gave it a couple of hours to come around and then gave up on it. It's probably seen better days.
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12/6/2013 - Rezy13 Likes this wine:
Friday Night Double Blind Tasting $40+ (Bin 75): Dense cloudy core of dark red with light rim; raw meat, balsamic, tomato, raspberry, funk; smooth texture, plush, balanced; drinking really well right now; very tasty.
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12/2/2013 - CWilliam wrote: 93 Points
Aerated into decanter and was mixed randomly in a group of 6 wines for a double blind tasting.
Nearly everyone (including myself) guessed this was a Burgundy from a ripe year. Very light red in color - Beautiful nose - floral, earthy, cranberry, red currants, black tea. Similar flavor profile on palate. Medium to light body, rich acidity & long finish with some velvety tannins still there. I loved this. 93+
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6/29/2013 - onewineheaven wrote: 89 Points
Nice, floral nose with a short, somewhat under-ripe finish.
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4/21/2013 - OlegE wrote: 90 Points
Beautiful dark ruby color, but clear, having transparency of Burgundy wines. As suggested by appearance, there is no much body. Flavor is unusual if not strange. There are no berries, fruits or flowers, but complex and rather intensive flavor of mostly grass and leaves, clove comes to mind, and olives. Birthday party did not provide the right environment for the analysis. Acids are plentiful, and there are some tannins and tart creating an illusion of young wine. At the end there is a taste of langenberries and cranberries, especially their tart. There is a feeling that grapes were not ripe enough to reach the potential. Overall, elegant wine, resembling Burgundy wines more than Rhône wines. Interesting, but, IMHO, overpriced.
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3/28/2013 - RyanJames Likes this wine: 90 Points
Still pretty young, and not tired at all like some earlier tasting notes may have suggested...a little funk upon opening, but that blew off in 30 minutes to reveal basil, ripe tomatoes, red flowers, red fruits, and a great amount of complexity on the nose. I kept smelling this. Not a crowd pleaser (not everyone liked it), and not as thick or rich as I would have liked, but a really good example of a "burgndian" cool climate syrah. Lots of acid, subtle red fruits, and a decent finish. The vintage is definitely not helping to elevate this, but I could see this lasting and getting a bit better over the next 5 years. Too expensive for the flavor profile/quality for me, unfortunately. 2010 northern rhone St. Josephs (i.e Gonon) and Texier syrahs @ $30-40 are much better wines IMO.
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2/15/2013 - Rezy13 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Crimson color with bricking; stank on the nose with some sulpher notes, some green characteristic (veggies) on the nose along with some red fruit; weighty on the palate with red fruit, some tannin yet velvety mouthfeel. Could have sworn this was Burgundy because of the stank, great acid, and lack of pepper. There was also some strong minerality on the finish- probably calcaire.
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12/8/2012 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
By far, BY FAR, the best I have ever had this wine. I bought it years ago because it was a Kermit Lynch Cote Rotie. Sure, right? Why not. And then, for years, men's gym socks. Not good, and I thought a waste of money. So I through it into this line up for fun.
Now: sweet tomato leaf, there were discussions of french women and how they might smell after a night together (in a romantic way) and smooth and pure. Interesting, not anything like an aged Cornas. And still lots of drive and energy on the palate. No reason to drink up.
So how did this wine get to French woman from gym socks?
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10/5/2012 - Cphofmann wrote: 88 Points
Medium garnet color, transparent but slightly cloudy. Aromas of smoke, black pepper, earth and leather. Flavours of raspberry, and other red fruits, some black pepper and spice. Drank over two days and it remained a rather lean palate. It's feminine and medium bodied with a balanced finish. Drink now, can't see this evolving into something more.
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10/3/2012 - svpandae Likes this wine: 89 Points
Really nice wine here. Good typical syrah profile. Plenty of life left.
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8/30/2012 - Obalde wrote:
med ruby, starting to garnet; med developing, leather, herbs, some musty earth, som eberry fruit comes and goes; dry, med+ acid, med tannin, med alcohol/body/intensity/finish, strawberry, blackberry, pepper; good- still has good acidity but age that is on the nose doesn't come through on the palate, lacking a clear sense of self
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3/18/2012 - PJRONeill wrote: 90 Points
Clear, garnet color with medium intensity. A somewhat restrained, elegant nose of leather, black fruit, earth and olives. Initially somewhat shy on the palate, it blossomed over time to show decent intensity, not overwhelming but with lovely balance between fruit and herbal notes. This isn't a showy wine, its much too subtle for that, and it while it speaks softly, with a modest 12.5% alcohol, it still has plenty to say.
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2/29/2012 - Brix wrote: 91 Points
Dang, this is good. Brought it to Little Bird Bistro for an anniversary celebration. It's drinking well, in a settled-down but youthful way - not much in the way of secondary flavors. Lovely silky texture, fine tannins, food-friendly acidity. Not a blockbuster by any means, but elegant and very well-balanced, loaded with Rhone-ish goodness.
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12/19/2011 - Anthony Lombardi wrote:
Four guys, four wines; 12/19/2011-12/20/2011 (Seattle, WA): Deep garnet red. Nose and palate were quite tight for an hour or so. Once it opened, we got a lovely contrast in Syrah. The nose was a textbook mix of floral aromatics wrapped around pepper and savory/briny smells. Some dark fruit comes through with some air time as well. The palate showed in contrast, a medium bodied, elegant wine. A very delicious expression of acidity manifests in bright citrus flavors on the first sip. It shows varying weight and layers as it moves through the palate, showing some black olive, black pepper and some dark fruit. Medium length finish. Soft, but some chalky tannins add some depth.
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11/25/2011 - Nanda wrote: 89 Points
At Woodfire Grill (Atlanta). Tight nose out of the bottle - opens up with time to reveal black fruit, olive, black pepper and hint of violets. Palate is medium-bodied with peppery black fruit and tapenade. For of us drank through the bottle within 90 minutes of popping, so it never opened up to show plushness or layering. Solid Cote Rotie -- but missing some richness and the bacon fat that I really look for in great northern Rhone syrah.
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11/25/2011 - mcubed wrote: 92 Points
Probably drank years too early but still faired quite nicely as it opened up over a couple hours. Things staring to come into glance with good fruit giving way to aromatics and herbal influences.
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11/12/2011 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
Good old sweaty sock bomb. Maybe I miss understand but darn this isn't good to me.
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11/9/2011 - agnorger wrote: 93 Points
Beautiful wine...had with lunch at 11 Madison. Aromas exploded from glass with a slight barnyard note. Inside was pure elegance and finesse. well balanced now - no noticeable tannin or acidity out of place. Good to drink now or hold for longer.
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4/17/2011 - pcwoz wrote: 91 Points
Great! Nicely balanced acid and red fruits.
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3/26/2011 - pcwoz wrote: 90 Points
I'd agree completely with Richard Jenkins
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3/17/2011 - Vinomarcus wrote: 82 Points
Acidic, shrill, devoid of fruit. Maybe just wound super tight, will try again tomorrow once its aired a bit, but this offered almost nothing.
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2/25/2011 - SanFranSoxFan04 Likes this wine: 90 Points
Cote-Rotie Syrahs (Vin, Vino, Wine Palo Alto CA): Not many notes taken, nose was OK but the flavor was killer, beautiful perfume, floral flavors mixed with spice and young fruit.
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2/8/2011 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
Color is clear, medium, garnet.
Nose is clean, medium - (the bottle was just opened), and from what little I can tell is still youthful (!) with just fruit character showing off.
Palate is dry with medium - alcohol.
Palate is, if I may step out of my WSET confines for a moment, just a dream. The tannins are fine grained and medium -. The body is medium - and the acidity is medium. But the flavor intensity is medium + with a lengthy long finish. It is one of those wines that is so easy to drink. As Hugh Johnson says, it goes down like water.
This is a very good wine that needs to be decanted to show its hand. I am excited about where it goes and we shall see.
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7/9/2010 - ebrown35 wrote: 91 Points
Medium garnet turning rust color with a tiny bit of bricking at the rim. Upon opening the nose has some gamy, red cherry, mushroom compost aromas, but after air it turns to an elegant almost CDP like nose of licorice and spice. The palate is very elegant with medium acidity and a medium plus finish. This is definitely showing the elegant Cote Blonde terroir.
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5/14/2010 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
So etheral and light that I could easily miss it. But then the depth, complexity and finish are immense.
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4/26/2010 - aveeck wrote: 88 Points
COLOR - pale red, not very intense. NOSE - more alcohol than fruit, but a good steely minerality. TASTE - I can almost taste the terraced slopes of ferruginous mica schists. For some reason, if this was an Italian wine, I would rate it more highly; this is as old world as it gets. RATING - 88.
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3/11/2010 - al-Zabba wrote:
A nose of red apples and fresh cut hay pre-baling, with damp manure-tilled earth, not purely one or the other. The fruit on the palate is significantly more muted than I remember, but with more of that fresh hay presence that I absolutely adore. As I recall, this has another day to go to hit the spot I really like it in and become all of the things I really associate with this bottling.
Note: Out of bordeaux glass. 95% syrah, 5% viognier. Cote Rotie, 50% Cote Baudin, 50% Cote Blond.
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3/11/2010 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
Off the cork pull pretty shut down. I would guess a hard Pommard if I had to.
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11/3/2009 - al-Zabba wrote:
"Delicious, exactly what I wanted, I couldn't get enough..."
Later had it with lamb shank and rice...just the kind of thing this wine needs. e vero.
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11/3/2009 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
Grilled venison, civet sauce, sour cherries, bacon, rosemary garlic. Basically the whole grill is in there. Lindsay notes hay. Nate notes that it is one of the most elegant Cote Roties he has had. I would agree. Needs some time.
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5/27/2009 - chiliman96 wrote: 90 Points
barnyard, bramble, straw very nice
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4/4/2009 - al-Zabba wrote:
Mushrooms, manure, and hay on the nose. Pungent but not unpleasant to this girl used to spending time with the horses...like perfume to me, really. On the palate, more mushrooms and hay over the fruit. Fantastic svelte body. Perhaps I've been watching too much Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern, but if I was looking for a wine to go with goat...this would be it. So I suppose it would go well with lamb, too. The hay and mushrooms swirling in this are wonderful and call out for gamey meat.
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1/10/2009 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:
The strength of the dried flower, Provencale herbs, brambly red fruits and earth aromas intensifies after an hour or so in the decanter. It is perfumed and textured in the mouth with loads of Garrigue and earthiness without being too wild. There is a little oak derived creaminess adding to the mouthfeel and the finish is crisp with reasonable length.
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7/27/2008 - br wrote:
smells and tastes a lot like a cote de nuits. light to med. bodied, very red fruit fragrant with hints of green and meaty overtones. good structure and very approachable now. nice and elegant.
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5/26/2008 - HenryW wrote: 93 Points
Lots of minerality and cherry fruit on both the nose and palate. There is also an interesting briney note on the nose. Light to medium bodied. Relatively unobtrusive tannins.
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4/14/2008 - Whinojb wrote: 87 Points
Always enjoyable. dark fruit with white pepper. white pepper on the finish. decanted for two hours.
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11/29/2007 - Ben Andersen wrote:
No formal note. I've had this a few times now, and it's an open, rather soft, showy example of Cote-Rotie. Delicious now.
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5/14/2007 - Siggy wrote:
2007 France Trip - Vernay, Levet, Clusel-Roch, Jasmin (Northern Rhone): Nose of smoke, bacon fat, and soy. Blackberry fruit and fresh ground coffee. Well-structured; very tannic and closed. A bit stern; opened up with air.
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