May 4, 2024 - ESTG does Blind Triples (Newcastle, WA): Mmm, sweet and pure, concentrated, mineral, bloody, deep, savory/salty umami. Whew let is age for another 7-10, but this is lovely.
December 31, 2023 - It's a biggun, that's for sure. Decanted about three hours ahead of time, but tried early and often. Purple color, big nose of chocolate and black olive, some aged mea. No coffee aroma or elegance that I'd associated with Cote Rotie previously. I don't have a lot of experience with the region though. Tbh, tastes more Cornas-like than anything else.
Sharp tannins, as you'd expect, and even after several hours, much better with food. Finally started showing some more aromas after about 6 hours.
Obviously a baby, I'd wait until 2028 or so if I had anymore. It wasn't cheap---vaguely remember around $100/750mL---and I don't believe I'd buy anymore without the ability to cellar.
December 23, 2023 - Day 2 - this was crazy closed day 1. Now opening some. Nose of dark fruits - blueberry & black cherry with a shit ton of granite and crushed stones - not saline but dusty and savory with some smoke and hints of smoked meat. A little reticent. Crazy young. The palate and finish are excellent. Deep and dark - almost plush, blueberries and black cherry with lots of smoke and smoked meat and granite/crushed stones. Medium bodied with nice drive and pretty fruit hiding in the back. Finish is very minerally with some some and dark fruit. Dusty. I think this will improve more with air. Nose - 4.5-5/6, Palate - 5-5.5/6, Finish - 5/6, Je ne Sais Quoi - 1-1.5/2 = 15.5-17/20 (92/100).
Day 5: Ok. This is pretty open now. The nose shows dark fruits - blueberry and black cherry and maybe a hint of black currant. Some smoke and a lot of granite and dusty stony minerals. Some violets now. Very purple. But the palate is where this is at now. Dark, sweet and perfectly ripe fruits - blueberry and black cherry - medium bodied and great balance and energy and lift on the palate - mouth coating with a hint of richness but with superb verve - juicy and alive. Tons of granite and dusty/chalky - you get that blueberry/granite milkshake young N Rhône Syrah thing I love. I don’t get the exact tiny berry vielle serine character I often associate with this cuvée but there’s a bright explosion into the finish that hints at it. Nose - 5/6, Palate - 5.5/6, Finish - 5-5.5/6, Je ne Sais Quoi - 1.5/2 = 17-17.5/20.
November 12, 2023 - Young and delightful. The nose is classic cote rotie with great delineation. The palate is deep and concentrated with good acidity. There are notes of blue and black fruit, smoked bacon fat, crushed black pepper and flowers. Finish goes on and on. Great today but will improve for at least 10 years if not longer.
August 11, 2023 - Opened in the bottle for a few hours but great from the start. Ripe dark fruit, olive brine, mineral, violets, smoke and rendered fat. Structured but not acidic or tannic. Ready to go now or in 10 years plus. Great Cote Rotie.
November 13, 2022 - Cold blue flowers and violets, bacon fat, tar, wet tilled earth on the nose. Palate liquid blue and purple flower, tiny wild Maine blueberries, sagebrush, medium plus tannins. Medium plus acid, medium-full bodied
September 8, 2022 - deep purple red color, at opening ripe berries and bacon fat, on the palate full and rich with a bit of rough and tumble on an otherwise seamless finish, fine depth, a day later - the nose is broader with cherries, licorice, bacon fat, meaty tones, blueberry-coated streaks of minerality, on the palate most impressive with leather and bacon notes, ripe but well restrained primary cherry and dark berry fruits, plums and a substantial foundation of gravelly mineral textures and clay, drying tannins lead into a fine long finish that is now fully smoothed out, the aromatics are already spreading beautifully on the finish, despite its many almost decadent glories- overall this is classically restrained with the structure and balance for a long life, worth the effort to seek out.
**(***), 2026-2050+ but also enjoyable now with plenty of air (and I would do it soon before the wine shuts down)
August 11, 2022 - 92-93. Give this wine 5+ years to bloom.
Pure, chalky red fruits (mixed with a little purple lavender), polished, with an noticeably earthy tannic finish. 14.5% alcohol was a little spikey on the finish, but went away when I brought the temp down lower. I don't see this evolving with the tension of the 2010 Journaries, but can see this aging really well with fruit, dried red/purple flowers, chalkiness, earth and smooth tannin. I think there are some similarities here with color temp of fruit, polish and alcohol with 2019 Jamet Cote Rotie, I think the Jamet brought more olives, complexity and concentration. Would like to see them side-by-side a couple years in the future, blinded. 92
** Day 2 ** The wine really came together, becoming more seamless with noticeable pepper/spoke on the nose and palate. A big wine with the 14.5%, but together. 93.