2017 Côte-Rôtie Fortis

With this domaine’s 23 hectares of vines, which are spread across Saint-Joseph, Condrieu and Cote-Rotie (and now another seven-and-a-half hectares at Saint-Péray and two-and-a-half high atop Cornas, all in the process of being planted), the indefatigable Stéphane Montez has a lot on his plate. He described 2017 as a vintage “with deceptive, rich fruit in the front but lots of structure underneath,” which he thinks will easily see the wines into ripe (pun fully intended) old age. Two thousand eighteen, on the other hand, “gave ripe wines but with more easy tannins that work well with the fruit. Maybe it’s a richer version of 2016 – we’ll see.” Montez works with up to a third whole clusters but said that it depends on the year. “If it’s a hot year, they are very useful to preserve freshness, and since it’s been hot, a lot, lately, I’ve been using more and more,” he said.

What once seemed like an ambitiously large new cellar for this estate a decade ago is now looking pretty full thanks to Stephane Montez’ steady expansion of his family’s domaine. Montez has increased his holding at Côte-Rôtie to 3.5 hectares of a total ownership of 30 hectares that includes mostly Saint-Joseph and some prime plots of Condrieu abutting Château Grillet. The winemaking hand has taken a steady turn to a lighter touch, as has been the case with most colleagues of Montez’ generation (Bonnefond, Villard, Cuilleron, etc.) That worked out well in 2018 and 2017, when “it was possible to make massive rich wines if you wanted to,” Stéphane told me. His major gripe with 2017, as was the common refrain across the region, is the quantity of wine produced. “I’m very happy with what I have, I just wish that I had more of it.” The entry-level Côte-Rôtie Fortis is a perennial best-buy for the appellation and that’s once again the case for the 2017 vintage.