2012 Michel & Stéphane Ogier Côte-Rôtie Le Village

Community Tasting Notes (6) Avg Score: 88.8 points

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  8/4/2021 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine:

  I can’t say this will win any awards for flamboyance, but this ticks all the boxes for Côte-Rôtie. Black fruit? Check. A bit of Telicherry peppercorn (but not too much)? Check. A wee bit of bacon fat, creosote, and campfire? Yes, that too. The tannins are present and well on their way to resolving and acidity and stony core keep things honest. Great balance, but nothing showy. And for a village wine, I’ll take it. Correct and satisfying with grilled (local) rack of lamb, maybe better still with a black-eyed pea salad (all that earth). A fine bottle in a good place (Maine).

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  6/22/2021 - forceberry wrote: 91 Points

  A "village-level" Côte-Rôtie blended with fruit sourced from several different vineyards. Fermented in stainless steel, aged in mainly old oak barrels. 13% alcohol, tasted blind.
  
  Luminous, moderately translucent blackish-red color with a hint of youthful blue. The nose feels clean and fragrant with expressive aromas of ripe blackberries, some peppery spice, a little bit of sweet bilberry, light inky tones, a hint of elderflower and a touch of gamey meat. With only a whiff or two I'm fully certain this must be a Northern Rhône Syrah or a very impressive imitation of it. The wine is clean and ripe yet enjoyably savory on the palate with a medium body and quite youthful flavors of fresh black cherries, crushed peppercorns, some blueberry tones, a little bit of brambly blackberry, light inky tones, a hint of gamey meat and a touch of toasty wood spice. The structure relies more on the high acidity than on the firm yet rather gentle, somewhat grippy medium tannins. The finish is quite long, somewhat grippy and rather savory with flavors of meaty umami, peppery spice, some brambly blackberry, a little bit of tart cranberry-driven red-toned fruit, a light inky tones, a hint of blueberry and a woody touch of savory oak spice.
  
  A very nice and varietally correct Syrah that was pretty much immediately recognizable for a Northern Rhône red. My guess was a higher-end Saint-Joseph, other people guessed a better Crozes-Hermitage, so it came as a bit of a surprise that the wine turned out to be a Côte-Rôtie - although an "early-drinking" entry-level cuvée at that. However, even though the wine is supposed to be an early-drinking wine, it is surprisingly youthful at almost 10 years of age and most likely will continue to be so for many more years. I doubt this will ever become a particularly impressive or complex Syrah - even with a lot more bottle age - but it is a very nice wine all the same and going to be offering pleasure for many more years. Nice!

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  4/29/2019 - Burgundy Al wrote: 87 Points

  Fine Vines Warehouse Tasting (Fine Vines - Melrose Park IL): Walk around tasting, brief note. Surprisingly simple, but certainly fun for current enjoyment.

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  3/18/2019 - MC2 Wines wrote:

  Brutally overpriced for what it is on the Blackbird wine list. Still, there's something interesting and compelling about the wine and I find Cote Roties tend to punch a bit above their weight which is why I went for it. It's easy to drink and yet well structured for food. A bit of savory tones while still having some good fruit. Went well with meat courses.

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  9/16/2016 - startinoz wrote: 94 Points

  Red flowers and meat aromas. Great tangy flavours on the delicate palate. Light. deceptively (very) long.

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