Côte Rôtie, Belle Helene, 2007

Name: Côte Rôtie, Belle Helene
Brand: Michel & Stephane Ogier
Price: 914.74 GBP

Available Vintages

all 2001 2007

justerini & brooks tasting note

Named after Michel Ogier’s wife, the Belle Helene comes from old vines in the Cote Rosiers. The wine is aged in new oak barrels for 24 months and is only released as a separate bottling in the best vintages. Intense, big and brooding big more closed but deep, notesof ripe brambles, bilberries and mulberries with savoury and earth undertones of mineral, indergrowth, sap, pepper and coal dust with a linger hint of bramble liquer on the finish. This is complex, hugely intense and rich but beautifully composed and far from unwieldy, though it will reward several years ageing in bottle.

critic reviews

94/100Josh Raynolds,Vinous

Inky ruby. Deep, pungent aromas of blackberry, blueberry, olive, tobacco and dried violet. This is yin to the Lancement's yang-or Bonnes-Mares to Lancement's Musigny, as Ogier would have it. Rich, fleshy and deep in dark fruit flavor, with late-arriving notes of smoked meat and licorice. More powerful and intense than the Lancement but I have a preference for that wine's elegance and precision right now. I'd love to compare these two wines a decade down the road.

date of review 01/2010