Côte Rôtie, Les Grandes Places, 2015
True type this is serious, powerful and a lot more reserved than the other wines here, offering intense crunchy berry and plum fruit with stone, spice, herb and sap qualities. Compact but concentrated and with a distinct sense of depth. Complex and tightly-coiled this is a wine that with age should burst into life. A true vin de garde. Grandes Places is a fabulous single vineyard in the Verenay commune planted with 75-year-old ‘Serrine’ vines, which is the traditional Syrah of Ampuis. The wine is aged for 24 months in 30% new oak and is bottled without filtration.
critic reviews
Opaque ruby. Pungent aromas of ripe dark berries, olive, incense and smoky minerals develop a spicy nuance as the wine opens up. Lush and deeply concentrated, displaying excellent clarity to the sappy blackberry, boysenberry and spicecake flavors. Shows unlikely finesse for its brawn and finishes extremely long, sappy and smoky; building tannins frame the densely packed dark fruit.