2011 Côte-Rôtie La Belle Hélène

Stephane Ogiercompared the 2012 vintage for Cote-Rotie to 2010 in terms of power. "But 2010 absolutely has a lot more tannic structure and needs patience, while the '12s will open up sooner," he told me. He believes that at the top end 2012 can be as good as 2010 "but overall that's not the case. With 2010 you were able to make excellent wines everywhere, even from young vines and less great terroirs." While Ogier likes 2011, he readily admits that he thinks that the wines will be best on the young side, explaining that they are "a lot like the 2006s but less ripe, with more herbal character and firmness but maybe better balance." The biggest challenge he faced in 2011, he added, was that yields were naturally high "and if you didn't control that you'd get green character."Ogier opened bottles of his mind-altering 2010 La Belle Helene and Lancement at the end of our session and I was especially struck by how much finesse both wines were showing, the Belle Helene in particular. There's no question that these are both wines to age and I doubt that even a long decanting would do either wine justice at this stage. The Lancement, which I scored 97 points last year, is simply a remarkable wine and one that I'd happily swap one-for-one for my 12-year-old daughter, if anyone was fool enough to offer me the chance.