Côte Rôtie, Côte Brune, 2023
A wine that sings of dried flowers and herbs, leading into a pure, strict palate imbued with immense linear minerality. It unfurls to reveal dried cocoa and dark, sea-salted chocolate notes amidst a wash of fine grippy tannins. Cote Brune is a wine of enormous focus and length – a real 5-star wine. 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. Fermented with 100% whole bunches and aged in large demi-muid casks, a maximum of 10% of which are new.
critic reviews
Rostaing’s 2023 Côte-Rôtie Côte Brune is superb, unfurling in the glass with aromas of dark plum, violet, timut pepper, spice, tapenade and dark berries. Medium- to full-bodied, dense and structured, it is impeccably balanced, built around a tensile, vibrant core of fruit and a finely judged framework of tannins that confers both power and precision. The finish is long and ethereal, marked by lingering notes of rose petal. One of the high points at this address in 2023, it stands out as a benchmark rendition of Côte Brune.
The 2023 Côte-Rôtie Côte Brune lets out early fragrances of pronounced orange rind, dried violets, gently detailed elderflower, stems and black cherry brush trails. Sumptuously weighted, dense and concentrated, the 2023 is a serious Côte Brune from the talented Pierre Rostaing. Profoundly structured, it winds down with stunning length and breadth on the long finale.