Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 44
YEAR'S BEST NORTHERN RHONE
CORNAS
226130
94 | Delas Frères
$55
2015 Cornas Chante Perdrix (Best Buy) ^
This is pulled from a selection of parcels that
Jacques Grange and Claire Darnaud-McKerrow have been transitioning to organic farming since 2013. Their latest vintage is at once
firm and soaring. The tannins define it, finetextured but abundant, providing the tight
structural integrity for the wine; they also
provide direction for the juicy black-plum flavors, which power ahead, picking up notes of
licorice and espresso beans, herbs and dark,
rich earth along the way. That energy suggests there's plenty more to come with time;
tuck it away for at least five years. § Maisons
Marques & Domaines USA, Oakland, CA
227001
91 | Domaine Philippe &
Vincent Jaboulet
$77
2012 Cornas ^ When Jacques Frey bought
Paul Jaboulet Aîné in 2006, Philippe Jaboulet left the family business to start his own
winery with his son, Vincent. They produce
this wine from their own six acres of vines
in Cornas, fermenting the grapes in wooden
vats for nearly a month before moving the
wine into 228-liter barrels for two years. Half
of those barrels were new, but this syrah has
enough dark-cherry fruit to balance the
wood's smoky vanilla tones, with scents of
bay and black olives adding complexity. § Frederick Wildman and Sons, NY
226691
centrated, wrapped in scents of herbs. It lasts
on spice and a stony savor, the tannins so
fine they're invisible except in the way they
extend the flavors for minutes. § Esprit du Vin,
Port Washington, NY
227005
96 | Vidal-Fleury
$82
2015 Côte-Rôtie Brune et Blonde de VidalFleury ^ Under the guidance of owner Marcel
Guigal and winemaker Guy Sarton du Jonchay, Vidal-Fleury has entered a renaissance.
They've released this Côte-Rôtie early; it's a
powerfully structured wine and it rewards
patience if you open it now. Be prepared to
meet a bruiser, packing a punch of acidity
and a mass of tart black fruit barbed with tannins. And be prepared to wait, as a day after
the bottle is opened, the oak comes up like a
suit of armor, making it hard to perceive anything but the size of the wine. But two days
later, everything falls into place: The tannins
fill in the fruit like grains of sand through
an hourglass, creating a supple texture with
depth and grip; smoke wends through the
wine to give it dimension; floral notes from
five percent viognier add hints of delicacy.
What's remarkable is that the wine holds that
balance for an entire week, predicting a long
life ahead. § Frederick Wildman and Sons, NY
226045
95 | La Tour Coste
$90
$81
2011 Côte-Rôtie ^ Known primarily for grenache-based wines at La Ferme du Mont
in the southern Rhône, Stéphane Vedeau is
making a name for himself in the northern
Rhône now, with La Tour Coste. Using fruit
from family-owned parcels, and a cellar in StPéray, he turned out a profound, invigorating
Côte-Rôtie in 2011. Fermented cool and slow
with ambient yeasts and aged for 18 months
in 300-liter barrels, the wine makes an immediate impression, a primal scent of rare red
meat, dark fruit and smoke that seems to
instantly spur the appetite. The flavors feel
just as charged, the wine sweeping along its
cool, stony base toward even cooler, fresher
flavors. What starts out dark and brooding
becomes bright and light, suggesting that
this has plenty of energy to last in the cellar
for the next 15 years. § Seaview Imports, Port
Washington, NY
226299
2014 Côte-Rôtie La Viallière ^ Gerin and
his sons, Michael and Alexis, pull this wine
from vines grown in mica schist right under
Les Grandes Places, their most prized parcel.
They destem the grapes, macerate the wine
for a full month and age it in new 500-liter
oak barrels, yielding a profound wine, deeply
concentrated yet not at all heavy. The oak
feels sumptuous, the fruit meaty and con-
2015 Côte-Rôtie Besset ^ Gigondas-based
winemaker Louis Barruol makes this wine
from a patch of 30-year-old vines planted on
schist at the top of Côte-Rôtie. It feels cool
and brisk, with a breezy acidity and the floral note common to wines made from sérine,
an old variant of syrah. Give it a day of air
and it pulls off a Clark Kent transformation,
90 | Franck Balthazar
$50
2015 Cornas Cuvée Casimir Balthazar
(Best Buy) ^ Balthazar's young-vine cuvée,
fermented spontaneously with the stems
and bottled with a minimum of added sulfur (18 grams per liter) is as bright in flavor
as it is in color, a radiant mouthful of crisp
red-plum flavor. It feels cool and stony, the
fine-grit texture of the tannins giving it purchase on the palate even as the flavors whisk
along, brisk and weightless. Delicious now,
it should age well over the next five to eight
years, too. § Savio Soares Selections, NY
COTE-ROTIE
226185
96 | Jean-Michel Gerin
44
WINE & SPIRITS
FEBRUARY 2018
94 | Barruol Lynch
$79
the fruit filling out with a cocoa richness, the
tannins taking on a ferrous intensity. Those
flavors last, rippling with herb and hazelnut
overtones, the wine feeling lush, as well as
structured. § Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant,
Berkeley, CA
226128
93 | Delas Frères
$280
92 | Delas Frères
$67
92 | Jean-Michel Gerin
$61
92 | Vidal-Fleury
$82
91 | Domaine de
Bonserine
$97
2015 Côte-Rôtie La Landonne ^ La Landonne makes some of the most intense wines
of Côte-Rôtie, thanks to its steep slopes, ironrich soils and location in the cooler northern
end of the appellation. This wine started with
a three-day cold maceration extended into
a ten-day fermentation in open-topped vats
with plenty of pump-overs and punch-downs
before aging in new oak. It's a mass of black
cherry and plum flavor upholstered in the
smooth, smoky sweetness of that oak-plush
and flashy, and built to last. § Maisons Marques
& Domaines USA, Oakland, CA
226127
2015 Côte-Rôtie Seigneur de Maugiron
(Best Buy) ^ A selection from plots in the côtes
Brune and Blonde, this is impressively fresh
and juicy for all its smoky oak and dark-berry
concentration. It's as if the tannins include
air in their weave, allowing details of bacon
fat and black olives, porcini and baking
spice to show through. § Maisons Marques &
Domaines USA, Oakland, CA
226186
2014 Côte-Rôtie Champin Le Seigneur
(Best Buy) ^ The Gerins coferment syrah
with about ten percent viognier for this sultry Côte-Rôtie. Aged in a combination of
French and American oak barrels, half new,
it's smoky and rich yet light on its feet, the
red-cherry, bergamot and black-tea notes
feeling brisk. A cool minerality keeps the
wine en pointe, ready for rare duck breast. §
Esprit du Vin, Port Washington, NY
226163
2013 Côte-Rôtie Brune et Blonde de VidalFleury ^ This shows the warmth of the vintage in its figgy fruit and a hint of balsamic
vinegar, yet the floral, spice and herb notes
keep it savory while the tannins hold it firm.
The flavors last with energy; channel them
toward a roast leg of lamb. § Frederick Wildman and Sons, NY
227008
2013 Côte-Rôtie La Viallière ^ The Guigals
purchased this 25-acre estate in 2006, updating the cellars and furnishing them with barrels from their own cooperage, but otherwise
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - February 2018
Contents
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - Cover1
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - Cover2
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 1
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 2
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 3
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 4
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - Contents
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 6
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 7
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 8
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 9
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Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - Cover3
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - Cover4
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