CÔTE RÔTIE
2018 Les Grandes Places Domaine Clusel-Roch
| Grapes | Syrah |
| Colour | Red |
| Origin | France, Rhône |
| Other | Practising Organic |
| District | Northern Rhône |
| Village | Côte Rôtie |
| ABV | 13.5% |
| Vineyard | Les Grandes Places |
This is hugely impressive. An awesome jolt of energy and power. So well measured. So fine though. There is a savoury line and attractive breadth of tight fruit - all perfectly balanced. This is lithe and loaded. Nice mineral scrub on the finish too. Yes, this is a wonder. Attention-grabbing Côte Rôtie that is hard to resist already at this early stage, yet this has a great future for those patient enough to wait! The vines Guillaume selects for this limited cuvée are the oldest in the plot, and are up to 85 years old. Fruit from the younger vines here goes in to the Les Schistes. The results could not be more different. Tasting the two wines is an education in the greatness of old vines.
| 12 | ||
*Case price discount: Mix any 12 bottles of wine (or 9 litre equivalent) or 6 bottles of Champagne, Spirits, Sweet Wine or Fortified (4.5 litres) to get the discounted 'case price' for each bottle.
Saturated ruby. Ripe black and blue fruits, incense, olive and a strong violet note on the exotically perfumed nose, along with smoky mineral and spice flourishes. Sappy and broad in the mouth, showing impressive depth and fine definition to its ripe boysenberry, cherry liqueur, salty olive and floral pastille flavors. At once rich and lively in character, this finishes with impressive power, well-judged tannins and lingering spice, mineral and floral notes. Drinking range: 2026 - 2036 Rating: 95 Josh Raynolds, www.vinousmedia.com (Dec 2022)
Hugely perfumed dark fruit, floral and spice scents show excellent clarity and pick up a minerally accent as the wine stretches out. Densely packed yet lively as well, offering palate-staining black raspberry, cassis, bitter cherry and licorice flavors and a suave candied floral note. The mineral nuance returns on the impressively long, penetrating finish, which features gently chewy tannins and lingering violet and smoked meat notes. Rating: 95-96 Josh Raynolds, www.vinousmedia.com (May 2020)
Domaine Clusel-Roch
From the 1950s to 1980 René and Josephine Clusel grew fruit and vegetables as well as grapes in Côte-Rôtie. Their son, Gilbert, with his wife Brigitte Roch, started to focus solely on the vineyards, and expanded the domaine a little.
Guillaume, Brigitte and Gilbert's son, joined the domaine in 2009 and is now in charge. He added significantly to the vineyard area, but mostly with the addition of Gamay in the Coteaux du Lyonnais. While the property is around 13 hectares, they still have only five hectares in Côte-Rôtie and just half a hectare in Condrieu. The vines are planted on terraces along the Côte-Rôtie, in the classic local style with two wooden stakes tied above each vine to help protect against the region's occasionally howling winds.
They were the first domaine to fully embrace organic practices and have been certified since 2002. They are a shining example of what can be achieved by hard work in the vineyards and truly artisan winemaking; their wines express the very best of this unique terroir up in the northern sector of Côte-Rôtie.
Les Schistes is the very approachable young cuvée from a selection of all plots, whilst the remaining cuvées are all single lieu dits. Annual production of Côte-Rôtie here still hovers at about 1250 cases per year. These are beautifully made wines with a very pure expression of place from this great region.
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