2016 Rôtie Cellars Southern White

JamesSuckling.com

• By James Suckling
  3/18/2018, (See more on JamesSuckling.com...)

  (Rôtie Cellars Walla Walla Valley Southern White, United States) Login and sign up and see review text.

JancisRobinson.com

• By Richard Hemming, MW
  3/13/2018, (See more on JancisRobinson.com...)

  (Rôtie Cellars, Southern Blend Washington White) Subscribe to see review text.

• By Stephen Tanzer
  Washington: Various Shades of Hot (Oct 2017), 10/1/2017, (See more on Vinous...)

  (Rotie Cellars White Southern Washington White) Login and sign up and see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Rotie (+FP Closed REMINDER), 7/8/2018

  (Rotie Cellars Southern White) FP Closed REMINDER: We will be closed for pickups on Friday July 13 and Saturday July 14, returning to our normal hours July 19-21. ---- Hello friends. The first annual set of Washington wine reviews are out from Wine Advocate’s new Washington reviewer, William Kelley, and they have caused quite a stir. I have seen some claims on social media that Kelley obviously doesn’t care for Washington wine. That seems like a bridge too far for someone who gave 95pt-or-better reviews to a full 52 wines. What is clear is that his palate is quite different than that of his predecessor, Jeb Dunnuck. From a quick perusal of reviews, it seems that textural elegance, judicious use of oak, and overall sense of balance are of special importance to Kelley. Producers known for especially robust structural profiles (especially in the form of tannin) and/or a reliance on creamy, vanillin-flavored new oak are suffering dramatically in this transition. One winery that performed quite well in Kelley’s inaugural set of reviews was Rotie Cellars. We were already planning on a Rotie offer this fall, as I recently had two memorable visits with Sean Boyd in Walla Walla: one in his current production facility, where he showed me plans from acclaimed architect George Suyama for an ambitious new winery he’s building adjacent to his estate vineyard in the Rocks District; and another at the vineyard itself, called Rotie Rocks. This site is yet another data point in a growing body of evidence speaking to the unique beauty of the Rocks District, and it features prominently in one of the three wines we’re offering today. Please note: as you can see, the winery has already flipped vintages on all three of these wines: to 2017 for the Southern White and to 2016 for the Northern and Southern Reds. Sean has set aside a stash of today’s wines for us, but the hold is going to evaporate after we place our order. He has been inundated with distributor orders from around the country after the release of Kelley’s reviews, and we’re fortunate to have access at all. I need to send Sean orders by Thursday, so please try to make all requests by end of day Wednesday, and please understand these will all be one-and-done wines for us.A blend of 50% Dwelley Vineyard Viognier along with 35%/15% Roussanne and Marsanne from Los Oidos (you may recall this vineyard from our recent Tulpen offer) and SJR (Delmas’ estate site), this was done in a mix of neutral barrel and stainless steel, and it clocks in at 12.5% listed alc. Wine Advocate: Copyrighted material withheld.