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René Rostaing

"Two thousand nine reminds me a lot of 2005, but with less tannic structure, maybe more like 1999," Rene Rostaing told me. "The wines are rich but supple, with good tannins, but they're round, polished, and not as hard as the '05s." Rostaing loves to point out that Cote-Rotie has always been prized for elegance rather than power, and he told me this year that "what's really interesting is that they can taste good at all ages-unlike, for example, Hermitage or Cornas, where the wines really need age to shed their structure. Cote-Rotie should be deep in flavor but not heavy, which makes it work really well with food," he concluded. Rostaing bottled a single Cote-Rotie from 2008, making the decision "not without a lot of thought. I was happy with the quality and the brightness of the cuvees but just not quite happy enough." He sold off almost all of the juice that would usually make up the classique, so the '08 wine is based heavily on fruit from his best sites. The result is a very nice wine, one that is far better than the 2002 and 1997, the only other years in which Rostaing has blended his top wines into a "regular" Cote-Rotie.

From 2009 and 2008 Northern Rhone Wines (Jan 2011) by Josh Raynolds

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2008 Cote-Rotie Cuvee Classique

Release Price: $65

Color: Red

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