2010 Côte-Rôtie La Landonne

According to Rene Rostaing, "there was a good distribution of rain across the season in 2011--no deluge, no drought, quite uniform."There also wasn't too much heat "and ripeness occurred smoothly and evenly across the vineyards, so you can't say that one Cote was favored over another, like in most years."Rostaing calls 2011 "a vintage that's a lot like 2006 or 2004, with good tension and a style that will appeal to the vrai amateur de Cote-Rotie, not people looking for flamboyant wines."For them he highly recommends the 2009s, which he says show the power that Cote-Rotie can achieve while retaining finesse.Like a number of his colleagues, he refers to 2009 as "a year of the year," while 2010 is "a year of the place."Drawing comparisons of the three most recent vintages, he summed things up this way:"2010 is a perfect balance of sun and terroir, 2009 is more about sun, and 2011 is more about terroir.That's why 2010 is the great one."Rostaing's 2011 Condrieu shows its typical freshness and energy, a fact attributable to a blocked malo, which he uses "because you must preserve as much acidity as possible with viognier; when it's flat, it's a completely uninteresting variety."

Rene Rostaing told me that he thought the sweet spot for Cote-Rotie in 2010, which he calls "a great, great vintage," was the southern sector of the appellation, especially in Tupin-Semons."The fruit was able to be harvested late when the tannins were fine and mature but the acidity was still strong, which is the magic moment for syrah," he said.Above all things, Rostaing values tension in his wines, which is why 2010 has so much appeal for him.All of Rostaing's wines are made and matured in the same way "because that's the only way that you can truly see terroir.When you raise the wines differently, then how can you really discern the differences aside from the elevage?"