(Wednesday, November 28, 2018) — What a perfect warm up for the onset of winter – Killer Côte-Rôtie. From the north end of the famous Rhone valley, the wines are a perfect expression of Syrah and are widely considered one of the two top appellations, along with Hermitage, in all of the Rhone valley and, indeed, among the very best in all of France.

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To fully explore this small but superb appellation, we will look at two distinct dimensions of these wines that should illustrate similarities and differences and help us better understand the reasons these wines are of such high quality and have become so successful.

One aspect is comparing the unique approaches of the producers, who are among the very best in the north Rhone – René Rostaing, Patrick & Christophe Bonnefond, Delas Freres, and négociant Domaine Saint Cosme. Especially notable are the distinctly different approaches to barrel aging and the use (or avoidance) of new oak.

The second aspect is geographical, looking at the characteristics of the two celebrated lieu-dits, namely the Côte Brûne with its bigger, more structured wines, and the Côte Blonde with wines that are usually more elegant yet still big and complex, along with some of the best individual vineyards from these very steep, south-east facing, sun trap slopes.

Côte Rôtie was a hidden secret until the 70s. Its almost Burgundian styled Syrah, showing more finesse than Hermitage (at least partly due to the allowance of up to 20% of the exotic white Viognier grape), was something of an insider’s secret. With only 70 ha of vines planted it was the ultimate niche wine.

Then in the 80s the region became suddenly fashionable with Guigal’s extraordinary (but controversial) wines leading the charge. Their top cuvées dropped the Viognier and featured significant new oak, compared to the traditional approach. The wines, from Guigal and other top producers who followed their lead, lost much of their Burgundian tendencies and evolved into bigger, more concentrated wines but retained some of the floral aromatics and still showed more elegance than their rivals from Hermitage.

From the famous La Landonne vineyard on the Côte Brûne we have wines from Rostaing and Delas which will be interesting to compare (Rostaing, the traditionalist, uses minimal new oak while Delas goes all in with 100% new oak, a-la-Guigal). From Bonnefond, we have wines from the Rochains and Rozier vineyards, which adjoin La Landonne, so more interesting comparisons here too. By way of contrast, Rostaing’s Côte Blonde is exotic and charming (with a little Viognier to spice things up) yet is still full-bodied and intense. The full list of wines (excluding our mystery wine, of course!) is here.

2006 was a very good year in the Northern Rhone. Berry Bros noted that it captured the best of 2004 with great ageing potential. The wines should be showing well now, fully mature but with lots of life still ahead.

For those who like ratings, Jancis Robinson rated the Rostaing Cote Blonde 18 pts (“a cut above superior”) , and the Landonne and Bonnefond’s Rochains & Rozier wines 17 (“superior”) or 17.5. Robert Parker and Jeb Dunnuck scored all these wines in the 90’s with some as high as 97 – high praise indeed.

Our tasting will be led by one of our former directors Dave Roberts, who has a passion for Côte Rôtie and would drink more of them, if only they would come into Ontario more often.

This should be an outstanding tasting. Some of these wines have quite limited production, e.g. Bonnefond Cote Rozier is just 125 cases a year, and some of others are only 300 odd cases – Bordeaux this is not! We are lucky to have these wines. Don’t miss this great opportunity!

Date: November, 28th, 2018
Time: 6:45 p.m.
Limit: 60 people
Members: $95*
Guests: $115*

*Price including HST

North York Memorial Community Hall
5110 Yonge St. (under library)
North York Centre Subway

GST/HST account: 844742619 RT0001
Business Name: Winetasters Society of Toronto

Cancellations accepted up to November 23, 2018 — (Cindy Taylor, 416.458.3147 evenings evenings only). No reservations by phone, please. No mail confirmations will be issued — you will be contacted only if we are sold out. First come basis. For this event, non-members may attend at guest rates.