MICHAEL COOPER DipWSET

Owner TomeVinos wine shops, WSET Level 3, Blogger www.spanishwinesandmore.com, blog.tomevinos.com

9.4

I love it. #syrah so fine so balanced. #coterotie perfectly ripe, supple, hints of smoke and spice and rich dark fruit. — 4 years ago

Vito Sergio Parente

9.4

Sublimely textured with an ever changing bouquet. #syrah #coterotie — 6 years ago

Mason Balistreri

Sommelier, International Wine Guild; Balistreri Vineyard; Sales, Joy Wine and Spirits

9.3

Domaine Jasmin Cote Rotie 2012 Vintage
A wine that seems to make the rounds as you can currently find it from @rarewineco , @kermitlynchwine and - here in Denver - from @ajselection. Old school producer that survived through WWII and sticks to just one bottling. De-stemmed from what I surmise but not without a rustic, bloody meatiness on the nose. Slight reduction, still young. The fruit character is markedly NOT black or purple like the Crozes / St Josephs I'm so often drinking instead (cheaper). Instead, it's a medley of black cherry, strawberry and sweet raspberry with an oddly contrasted tropical edge (hello 4% viognier!), that ultimately takes a back seat to the savory, spice notes. Certainly ample body despite being only 12.5% and aged in neutral oak. Seems built for the long haul. Cool wine. I sell magnums of 2007... I wonder what that tastes like?

#syrah #classicwines #coterotie #northernrhone #jasmin #rarewineco #kermitlynch #AlainJunguenet — 7 years ago

Peter van den Besselaar

9.4

Vintage 1991 - Birthday year of my son, kept this bottle since '93 for a special occasion and (thank god) it delivers! Lots of stinking horse stable and manure in the beginning and after decanting also mineral tones, still some cherries and impression of roses. Powerful and smooth taste. Côte Rotie is impressive. At Hof Cleyn Mierde. #coterotie #syrah — 8 years ago

Vasanth Balakrishnan

9.1

Expectedly splendid #coterotie from E. Guigal. The thoughtful wine bar we were at did decant it for us and it does benefit from that patience. Rich fruit nicely balanced by tartness, some smoked meat flavors and a beautiful lacy peppery note on the finish. I liked that it was a relatively reasonably priced bottle for a nice wine bar. — 5 years ago

Mason Balistreri

Sommelier, International Wine Guild; Balistreri Vineyard; Sales, Joy Wine and Spirits

9.2

Syrah seemingly in the zeitgeist right now so I picked up this 2011 Coulet. Wow - it's so different than the Cote Rotie I just had. I know syrah can run the gamut but this is radically different. Biodynamic, low so2, neutral oak & concrete. Not really Vin de Garde; Not really Vin de Soif...

So what then? Certainly intense. Plum & liqueur-like raspberry notes that are both in-your-face "sexy" & "scary" at the same time. Even more prevalent than the fruit are the aromas of menthol, acetate, & iron. Nearly akin to robitussin - & I mean that in the best way possible. It's weirdly delicious & syrah freaks will get it.

Unfortunately, the regular consumer might find it to be too much. The slight volatility is both good & bad. It dials up the fruit's sweetness, giving the wine body & texture. But also amps up the medicinal quality. This is not a wine to guzzle & ignore. Admirably, not subtle.

Coincidentally this wine reminds me Pax - who is getting a lot of attention right now & rightfully so. I have't tried the new 100 point Hillside bottle yet (though I have one ready), but I've always been a huge fan of his wines for a long time. My favorite site he works with is Griffins Lair & I believe I've tasted every vintage of it going back to 2002. Those original vintages are bigger & riper (which I still love & fuck you hipsters for not), but even back then Pax never used superfluous new oak, sulfites, yeasts etc.. Yes, they were broad shouldered wines but they were pure & unmasked - like this Cornas. Some of the early 2000s Griffins Lair had a slight volitility that came across as kirsch sweetness. It's an interesting balance that punctuates the varietal character perfectly - & it demands your attention while doing it.

This Cornas is not some delicate wine that somms gush over; nor is it a slick, parkerized wine without sense of place. It's something else. A wine for the true syrah aficianado. The audience is small but those who can appreciate it, will appreciate it. If you like weirdness, intensity, complexity & the flavors to scream at you from the glass, this is your wine.

#cornas #syrah #coulet #biodynamic #pax #coterotie #rhone #northernrhone #rhonevalley — 7 years ago

Charles (Chad) Bucklin

Owner and founder of C. T. Bucklin Wine Advising

8.9

Young and concentrated. Began to open up after an hour in the decanter. Forget about it for a few years. #coterotie #patrickjasmin #rhonevalley #syrah #riedel #ctbucklinwine — 8 years ago

Derek Cohen

Wine sales, The Wine Shoppe at Green Hills

9.3

Young and alive! Lots of herbs, some red currant, cinnamon stuff developing, plenty of acid. #agemore #coterotie #northernrhonewines #ampuis #guigal — 6 years ago

Mason Balistreri

Sommelier, International Wine Guild; Balistreri Vineyard; Sales, Joy Wine and Spirits

9.6

Cool label, but can you explain what the hell "sérine" is? Apparently it's some tight clustered Syrah clone that's both "highly precise" and "vulnerable to disease". Sounds risky... Especially considering this comes from the frighteningly steep terraces of Cote Rotie. Not only that, but the wines were made without new oak or sulfur. He also picks early and uses some amount of carbonic maceration. Jean Michel Stephan uses to work for Guigal, but I guess he must of learned "what not to do" instead of mimicking the style.

The intensity is beyond belief! Cote Rotie is already aromatic, but this is amplified by the carbonic quality. Further, there's a large amount of Viognier here too, which lends a bright tropical punch in the midst of classic Syrah notes (tapenade? meatiness?). There's some similarity to the Matthieu Barret Cornas I just drank, but this has far more clarity in the aromatics - a quality both important and underrated. So striking here are the aromatics, it's hard to even move on to actually tasting the wine - but once you do, it surprises again.

This wine's balance is very strange... No oak, but the high acidity is tapered by carbonic maceration. It's soft, but lean at the same time. There's a slight oily texture which might be from the Viognier, but it's counter balanced by an amazing display of fresh fruit. Raspberry, pear, black cherry, and even pineapple. From the nose to the mid palate it's an exhilarating wine., but the finish is noticeably abrupt. The tannins are tart and bitter like the skin of an under ripe plum. Aesthetically it works. From the nose all the way into the mid palate, this wine is so "over-the-top" that a sudden, unexpected bitterness comes across as a moment of clarity instead of disappointment.

I highly recommend the wine. I hope to taste other vintages and bottlings.

#syrah #naturalwine #coterotie #northernrhone #jeanmichelstephan #syrah #biodynamic #rhone #northernrhone #rhonevalley — 6 years ago

Eric Guido

9.4

What an incredible bouquet, with wild violet florals, sage, olive, pepper, crushed stone, smoke and brilliant black fruits. On the palate, I found spicy blackberry with zesty acidity and feminine textures, giving way to inner floral and exotic herbal tones. It finished wonderfully long and spicy with masses of inner florals, hints of blueberry skin and grippy tannin. #jamet #coterotie dining with #kelleyfox — 8 years ago