From a fun casual dinner Jay Hack put together at Il Corso. Theme was Cote-Rotie (mostly from this decade but some of us stretched the rules a bit), although Robert Dentice brought a pair of Scholium Project whites that stole the evening. Great company (nice to meet Ramon from this board as well at the dinner!) and some really interesting, at times heavily debated wines. The '03 Cote Roties were quite polarizing over the table with a few people really liking the trio - I was at the other extreme as I really struggled with the Jamet and Guigal Brune et Blonde in particular, finding both to have a very roasted/stewed character that was for me quite offputting and dominated the other nuances and complexity.
Scholium whites:
2008 Scholium Project Riquewihr Lost Slough Vineyards
Gewurztraminer, 15.8% alcohol. Light yellow colour with explosive aromatics showing flowers, tropical fruits, spices, musky perfumed notes and an interesting metallic element. Medium bodied on the palate with bright pineapple, guava and green mango flavours over metal and minerals. With time this really opens out with both the fruit and mineral elements gaining in weight and intensity. Finishes with good length. A really fascinating wine to sit down with and follow over the evening.
2008 Scholium Project Naucratis Lost Slough Vineyards
Verdelho, 16.3% alcohol, and by far the craziest wine I've ever tasted in my life. I love this! This is just absurd. Absolutely crazy nose with a ton of honeydew melon, tropical fruit and bright floral notes with an intense minerality that makes you wonder whether a rock quarry somehow got put through the press along with the grapes. Explosive fruit flavours on the palate with an intensity and power that brings Zind-Humbrecht to mind and an incredible dynamic mouthfeel that's liquid velvet for the first few sips before the minerality suddenly kicks in to the point that it feels more solid than liquid with shards of metal and rocks grinding in the back of the mouth. Finishes very long with perfect balance - a shock to see the label and find out this is 16.3% alcohol! A really amazing, unique experience (and my WOTN).
Cote Roties:
First flight
2005 Yves Cuilleron Cote-Rotie La Madiniere
Bright ruby red colour and incredibly fragrant with gorgeous aromas of smoke, violets, meat, some pepper and red and dark fruits. Elegant and medium bodied in the mouth with gentle fruit, smoky and meaty flavours that build up with each sip and a spine of good acidity and grainy tannins. This isn't a powerhouse by any means, but there's a sense of real freshness and brightness to the flavours here that makes it very pleasant to sit down with and explore over an evening with food.
2001 Saint Cosme Cote-Rotie
Strange funky nose showing aromas of earth, leather, raspberries and bell pepper with a blue cheese note that's faint at first but picks up and dominates the aromatics with time. Medium bodied in the mouth with a silky mouthfeel and flavours of dark berries, leather and some greenish notes. Finishes a little short.
1999 Pierre Gaillard Cote-Rotie
Clear bright red colour with a beautiful, complex nose that's a little reticent at first but opens with air to show leather, earth, smoked meat, briary red fruits and faint violet notes. Silken in texture in the mouth with seamless fruit, leather and smoky flavours, grainy tannins at the back and bright acidity underneath. Very well structured, giving the impression that this should last and keep developing a good while - but already delicious now.
Second flight
1995 Guigal Cote-Rotie Brune et Blonde
Corked. Debated a bit at the table as there was some bright red fruit, smoke and leather clearly perceptible, but a few of us found the dreaded cardboard/newspaper aroma in there as well.
2003 Guigal Cote-Rotie Brune et Blonde
Dark purple colour with a huge nose of dark fruits, vanilla, lavender and a roasted/caramelized flavour element that I found offputting. Dense and chewy-textured in the mouth with lots of blueberry and blackberry fruit with a slightly roasted flavour component over vanilla and faintly earthy notes. Feels heavy and soft, lacking the elegance and structure that I look for in Cote-Rotie.
Third flight
2003 Jamet Cote-Rotie
Dark purple-red colour with a huge nose showing stewed black fruits, raspberry compote, apricot, bacon fat and floral notes. Dense and concentrated on the palate showing intense fruit and smoky flavours, but with a stewed/roasted character I found tiring and low acidity. Not my style, although others at the table liked this a lot more.
2003 Bonnefond Cote-Rotie
Shows a rich dark fruited flavour profile with faintly meaty, floral and roasted coffee notes underneath, but with time the roasted flavour elements start to disappear and this gains a sense of freshness and brightness on the palate. Full bodied and plush in texture but showing a little more definition and structure underneath than the other '03s. I'd have liked to spend more time exploring this one as it seemed to really improve with air.
Fourth flight
1997 Guigal Cote-Rotie Chateau d'Ampuis
Fabulous nose - starts out reticent and musty to the point some of us wondered if it was mildly corked, but with 15 minutes of air this opened out incredibly to show ash, meat, old leather, smoke and perfumed notes over a core of bright red and dark fruits. Spectacular in the mouth with a seamless array of fruits and smoky, meaty flavours echoing the nose, good acidity and fine tannins underneath, finishing long and savoury. Outstanding.
2001 Guigal Cote-Rotie Chateau d'Ampuis
Full bodied and intense with ripe blackberry and olive flavours mingled with meat, earth, pepper and faint smoky notes on the nose and palate. Rich and silky in texture, but with good acidity and tannic structure underneath all the fruit. Finishes with good length and power with the savoury fruit and meaty flavours lasting a good while.
Capping the night off with an amazing sticky
2002 Alois Kracher Chardonnay Trockenbeerenauslese #2 Nouvelle Vague
Bright yellow-gold colour with an intoxicating nose of honey, pineapples, coconut, sweet limes and spices. Full bodied and slightly viscous in the mouth yet showing no sensation of heaviness, mouthcoating tropical fruit and honeyed flavours and an incredibly long finish. Wow!
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