2003 Côte-Rôtie Les Grandes Places

This completely biologique estate has been producing consistently elegant versions of Cote-Rotie in recent years, and the current line-up, which I tasted with Brigitte Roch, promises to be their most successful yet.The 2004s here are fragrant and silky, with almost Burgundian texture.In 2003, the wines are atypically lush, but while undeniably ripe (and higher in alcohol than is typical at this estate), show no roasted or pruney qualities.

Brigitte Roch describes 2003 as "a good vintage but completely atypical. Actually, the 2002 is more typical. Our selection massale helped in 2003," she added, "and our work in the vineyard was designed to protect acidity, but the vintage is still closer in character to syrah from the South. " The acidity level was very low in 2003 and the malolactic fermentations practically finished in cuve, she told me. She and husband Gilbert Clusel removed 90% of the stems because "the ripeness of the grapes came quickly but the stems still had a green taste, unlike in 2001 and 2000. "Still, the wine is 13. 8% natural alcohol, freakishly high for this estate (Clusel and Roch eschew chaptalization and are perfectly willing to bottle Cote-Rotie with barely 12% alcohol in less-ripe years). But Roch does not consider the young 2003 Grandes Places to be in the same league as the extraordinary 1999. The crop level in 2003 was a very low 20 hectoliters per hectare, but in '99 hail kept production to a microscopic 8 hectoliters per hectare and the grapes retained significantly more acidity.