Cote Rotie

One wine that I always wish I could drink more often is Cote Rotie.  There’s a complexity that I love to those that I have been privileged to drink and, one of my all time favorite wines was a bottle of 1978 Guigl La Mouline - remarkable wine that I drank in 1990.  Sadly Cote Roties are expensive and one rarely sees them in the market in this area.  A friend solved this problem late last week when he opened a bottle of the 1990 E. Guigal, Cote Rotie, Brune et Blonde for an impromptu dinner to celebrate the arrival of his first pension check. 

The wine is like most Cote Roties, a blend of mostly Syrah with some Viognier blended in. 

The wine was a mature garnet color in the glass with just the beginning of some browning at the edges.  The aroma was pure cold climate Syrah, meat, spice and leather with the added floweriness of the Viognier on top of it.  This is another wine where I was content to just smell it.  There were dark flavors of black fruit bordering on jam.  Wonderful, rich  mouth feel to this wine.  Great acid and tannin kept the richness in check. The finish was long and pleasant but the age of the wine was noticeable at the end.  My best guess is that this wine peaked about two years ago, but it is beautiful in its declining years.  I happen to have a bottle of this wine in the cellar and moved it to the “drink now” section. 

13.5% alcohol and $60.