2009 Côte-Rôtie La Belle Hélène

Stephane Ogier calls 2010 a terroir vintage, like 2007, 2004, 2001 and 1991, "while 2009 is a vintage vintage, where the growing season is more reflected in the wines than the vineyard." He pointed out that with a great 2011 in the making, "there's a trilogy of amazing vintages here that has never been achieved except maybe 1989, 1990 and 1991. Two in a row is considered lucky, but three?" Because 2009 is "a power year" Ogier says that he favors the Belle-Helene over the Lancement in that vintage, explaining that "Lancement does better in years with less heat, where its elegance is featured." Ogier showed me the 2009 Condrieu La Combe de Malleval again since it had just been bottled when I saw it last year. It is aging slowly and still dominated by its minerality, and displaying a touch more floral character than it showed 12 months ago. I think that I underrated it then and would now score it 92; it has very good upside potential.

Stephane Ogier told me that although 2009 was a ripe year, "it's nothing like 2003, for example." He sees similarities to 1999 (an excellent vintage here, by the way) because "the wines are ripe but elegant, with soft tannins that will allow them to be drinkable young or with some age." Ogier opted to bottle only one Cote-Rotie from 2008 and said that his overall production was off by a full third, mostly on account of hail "that completely ruined L'Ame Soeur." On the subject of the differences between Ogier's La Belle Helene and Lancement bottlings, he said he thought it was "a crime to drink Belle Helene young because the whole point of the wine is to be a vin de garde, while the point of Lancement is elegance and finesse." To that end the Lancement no longer gets any new oak ("I don't want the added tannins because the wine is too fine not to be overwhelmed by them") while the Belle Helene is raised in 100% new barriques for the first year, after which it is moved to casks that are two to four years old "because it's a wine that benefits from the structure of the wood tannins." The regular Cote-Rotie is always aged in about one-quarter to one-third new barriques, by the way. Ogier is slowly becoming a player in Condrieu now that he owns almost three hectares there. "I want to make a delicate, feminine style of Condrieu and I'm not afraid to not let the wines go through malo," he told me. "I don't want them to be in the ripe, weighty style that came onto the scene in the 1990s. I prefer mystery to drama." (Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, D.C.)