2017 Côte-Rôtie Vieilles Vignes

Bastien Tardieu thinks that the 2017 northern Rhône wines will be longer lived than many of his colleagues do based on their concentration, which was the direct result of small yields as well as the general warmth and resulting ripeness of the fruit. The Tardieu wines are definitely deeply concentrated, as they always are, and while veering toward an opulent style they possess adequate tannins and freshness to keep things in check. As such, my gut feeling is that they are unlikely to close down any time soon, if ever, and will provide plenty of pleasure on the young-ish side, perhaps as soon as their sixth or seventh birthdays and then for up to a decade after that. Note the return, after 13 vintages, of the Côte-Rôtie Vieilles Vignes, a superb wine that was sourced from the prime Landonne, Lancement and Chavaroche vineyards.