Côte Rôtie, Côte Brune, 2016

This comes from a parcel once owned by Marius Gentaz that René replanted in 1999. Perfectly situated between La Turque and the Brune from Jamet. It is not produced every year but according to the quality and suitability of the season. You don’t have the limestone you get in Cote Blonde, here, but a redder clay and schist soil giving broader-scale wines. Glorious from the word go, serious and with real presence yet forthcoming and stylish. Great complexity and intensity but with no excess. Sumptuous flavours of bramble, tayberry, sweet woody spice, roasted meat and undergrowth, that linger on the impressive finish. A breath-taking Cote Rotie of great gravitas. Fermented with whole bunches and aged in large demi-muid casks, a maximum of 10% of which are new.