Essential Syrah

'This was another terrific visit with Rene Rostaing, and he's hit gold in both 2012 and 2013. In fact, he may have fashioned the wines of the vintage in 2013 and I was blown away by the depth and richness these showed. There are few people doing Cote Rotie better than this guy.' - Jeb Dunnuck, erobertparker.com, Dec 2014

Cote-Rotie is different and tastes different from much of the northern Rhone, because rather than granite the soil is mainly mica-schist. As you cross from one lieu-dit to another you'll find large and varying presences of minerals such as limestone and iron oxide. René is a very serious custodian of the stunning terroirs that his wife inherited from her father Albert Dervieux and the legendary Marius Gentaz Dervieux. His original holding grew from just over 1 hectare in 1971 and with some clever acquisitions and those bequests, is now 7.5 hectares, but spread over 20 different plots representing 14 separate vineyards.

Ampodium (Cuvee Classique until 2009) is arguably the most typical wine, covering the breadth of the appellation. It is 100% Syrah and sees 25% new oak. It needs less maturation to get the full effect and is a fantastic introduction to these superb wines. And if you're still a Rostaing neophyte it is the perfect introduction to his precious terroirs and his total dedication.

In the Cote-Rotie AOC René makes just three wines, using little new oak in any of them and Viognier in only the legendary Cote Blonde. Cote Blonde is the most sought after and grows out of almost barren silex and schist soil. La Landonne comes from iron-rich sand. Both these cuvees see only 10% new oak in mainly larger demi-muids. And they may as well be made from unobtainium. /CW

Offered subject to remaining unsold