La Viallière Côte-Rôtie Syrah

Deep, brilliant ruby color. A highly perfumed bouquet displays vibrant black and blue fruit and floral pastille scents that are complemented by olive, smoky mineral and exotic spice notes. In a deep yet surprisingly lively style, offering appealingly sweet cherry-cola, blueberry, spicecake and candied violet flavors that are braced by a spine of juicy acidity. Shows fine clarity and mineral lift on an impressively long, floral-driven finish that's shaped by fine-grained, well-knit tannins. (Josh Raynolds, Vinous, December 2022)

Beef Wellington’s best friend

Medium ruby; medium plus intensity aromas of cocoa, vanilla, anise, cinnamon, clove, mineral; developing; dry, medium acid, high tannins, medium alcohol, medium plus body, pronounced intensity flavors of cocoa, vanilla, sweet spices

Classic Cote Rotie...smoked meats, leather and spice but surprisingly soft.

Mind blown. How is it possible I've never even heard of this producer before? Thank you to Mannie Berk and Rare Wine Co. for putting Champet on the radar. This fully lives up to the sales pitch. It is about as ultra-classic a Cote-Rotie as I've ever had, almost like a cross between Levet and Jamet. Even the label design is retro. The material is red-fruited, savory, and succulent, with a pronounced stony/graphite streak. The stems are immediately evident giving the wine some spine and tension and a bit of a green snap. On some sips the tannic muscle is evident, on others it's fully absorbed into the wine and the texture is almost velvety. Thus, while the flavors have that meaty syrah succulence that you could sort of describe as rustic (more beefy than bacon here), the texture here is actually quite refined and civilized. No funk going on here either. It seems pretty close to straight soil-to-glass transfer Cote-Rotie.

Surprisingly good right now

Old school. Delicate and drinks like Burgundian Syrah

Very pure and layered

Champet, young and old is always great!

Sort of ratch in the best possible way... bacon, green pepper, cedar, black pepper, grilled herb, with fresh blue blackberry emerging with extended air time. The severe vegetal notes and burly tannins can be off-putting now, but have faith.