Domaine Rostaing, Cote Rotie, Cote Brune

This wine was really, really good. Maybe my favorite of the evening. Meaty on the nose and palate with blackberry and raspberry fruit. Lots of spice and black pepper on the long finish. Very impressive from someone who will admit a bit of label bias against higher volume producers in the N Rhone.

Robe noire Nez olive noire fumée très sombre Bouche dense et tanins encore accrocheur À attendre

Purple, very deep. No signs of age at the rim. Decanted for 1 hour, the wine was stunning after 3 hours. On the nose, blueberries, boysenberries, long pepper and mint. On the palate, the wine is tastes of blood. It is silky and perfectly balanced. The finish is long. I will probably wait a few years before opening the next bottle as it is not yet at its full potential.

Needed every second of a 3 hour decant. Plus another 7 or 8 years! Not quite as brawny and intense as the freakish but sublime SQNs, but on the same road. Syrah in a deep black rich highly extracted Pavie style. Surprisingly, very clean, no brett or barnyard. Lots of mint and almost bitter dark chocolate, brambly. A very slight green pepper note. Still opening up after 6 hours. This will easily be a 30 year blockbuster…. will overwhelm most …

Supercharged. Will not open another one for 20 years. Great fruit,acidity and tannin.

Real power and salty soil character on the aromas with wonderfully darker raspberry fruit of plums, greener fruit peels, herbs and fantastic flower tone that lies above and creates desire. The perfume is also shiny. Pretty full-bodied and really fresh and energetic wine that gives a wonderfully beautiful character with delicate perfume that lies over beautiful plums, blackberries, leather, salts and real touches of herbs. Dense salty feel on a deep finish with freshness and firm but perfect tannins. Sublime …

Prise après la Landonne et la Côte Blonde, cette Côte Brune est encore plus florale. La bouche est un délicat coulis de petits fruits noirs, avec encore une touche supplémentaire de finesse et de dentelle. Un très grand vin. 97 pts

France and Italy - May 6 to May 10, 2019 : Aromas of iron, black cherry, exotic spices and mesquite smoke. Rangy palate, with seamless depth - dense and rich with black fruit, melted stone and complex spices and earth. Mouth coating. Fine tannin. Expansive finish. Outstanding.

Tasted after 2017 Côte Blonde. Amazing depth and intensity on the nose - dark fruit, stony minerality, spices, smoke. On the palate brooding, lots of structure, sweet fruit almost entirely covered by massive tannins, fresh and vibrant, very very long. Mineral, almost saline. Extremely promising, but this will require lots of patience. 95-96+

At the J&B annual Rhone tasting. Tasted after the Côte Blonde from the same vintage. A divine wine. If Syrah isn't already your favourite grape, it will be after you taste it.

Very dark and inky - almost blue. Love this super-clean intense nose of deep cherry and woodsmoke and wet slate. Tannic, powerful and intense, smoky, super-sexy wine - a touch minty as well. Very very good.