Marie et Pierre Benetiere, Cote Rotie, Cordeloux

Expected this to strong reductive notes based on reviews, but it was a very clean and beautiful syrah. Dark fruits on the palate but feels simultaneously light and lifted. There’s a pleasant dust or petrichor note on the nose. Good acid structure and balanced tannins.

2015 vintage

Albany excess; 11/14/2025-11/15/2025 (Châteauneuf-du-Salil, Albany) : I know there's been a ton of controversy about this vintage/release - I did not have this wine on release, but ten years out it tastes like a proper Northern Rhône to me, with the brightness and flair of Benetiere, though certainly showing the ripeness and rich fruit of the vintage. It is *very* fruit forward - there's a lot of plummy and dark berried fruit here, but also lots of bright higher toned …

2015 vintage

A bit tight upon opening but opened up to reveal a fleshy black-fruited wine that is still awfully primary with only modest meat, pepper and olive. Great purity of fruit and silky structure. Needs more time to gain depth and nuance. Upside from here.

2010 vintage

Robe noire Nez fruit noir viande grillée Bouche dense encore assez tannique À attendre je pense

2010 vintage

Opened up both a Panzer and a Polaner bottle of this in the last two weeks. Both were very consistent and are only beginning to awaken from the massive, tannic structure of the ‘15 vintage. Never mind you, this one is still extremely young. Automatics continued to develop on day two. This wine has a very long life ahead of it, and will likely not reach its peak for at least another 8 to 10 years. I’m not sure what …

2015 vintage

Holy cow. My previous bottle of this, five years ago, sucked. See my note: I gave it 80 points. What a difference a few years makes. This bottle was really quite good. Classically N Rhône with brambly fruit and savory undertones. Deep with room to improve for another 5-10 years I’d guess. Not a great wine—not as good as the ‘10-13 Benetieres—but really quite good and I’m surprised and pleased with where it is. Maybe in five years this will …

2015 vintage

Not the best vintage of this, but still quite tasty, if atypical.

2015 vintage

Dark and quite serious nose with cherries and floral notes. Good acidity on the palate but the tannins are still quite gritty and very present. Overall, it feels a bit backwards and clearly not showing everything it has. Interesting wine, but not really pleasurable right now, although you can tell the quality is clearly there. This needs a good 7-10 years in the cellar. 93+

2010 vintage

with a long decant this showed well. so elegant and light on its feet

2010 vintage

Dark colour. Pungently smoky on the nose, clove, blueberry fruit. Lots of dry fine tannin, more smoke and ripe black fruit. Bit of a monster!

2010 vintage

I recall liking this more earlier - not sure if this was an off bottle. A bit one dimensional esp. compared to the other bottle we had open (Les Vin des Amis - Clape 2012 - which was open and expressive). Had the bottle open for 3-4 hours but didn’t budge. No formal note but it didn’t rock my world…

2010 vintage

Perhaps not quite at peak yet. A beautiful style of elegant Cote Rotie but not firing on all cylinders.

2010 vintage

Exetrmely pure and elegant, with bright acidity Still very young even after decanting > 1 hour. Would wait 5 years.

2015 vintage

A Panzer bottle. This bottle redeemed itself on Night 2. On Night 1 I tried 1.5 glasses from a Coravin and it had a profile similar to a $18 Guigal Cotes du Rhone. It was thin and devoid of any CR character. Prior to Night 2, I decanted for about 8 hours at room temp; rebottled for about an hour. This proved to be a smart move. The wine took on more weight and depth. Some CR character emerged, but …

2015 vintage

This was a funky wine. On night one it had very little fruit, a ton of brett and was very ashy. Night two it can around a little with brett fading but remained light with no intensity or fruit. Ash, olive brine and some animal. A fine wine but just not interesting to me.

2015 vintage

Took a couple hours decant for the fruit to really come into its own. Cinnamon, cherry cola, deep red fruits, orange peel, blackcurrant, caramel mixed with wet tobacco. Somewhat subdued nose and long finish.

2010 vintage

This was sick. For about 45 minutes was generic natty Syrah and then bukakke of dank vibes with blackberry fruit and smoke and hot tobacco and musky perfume. Dialed into a wave and never wavered. This was just intense and beautiful. No VA or other flaws. While also a dual label and imported by Source, is not really very Rotie. And even at 12.5 just bitch slapped at modern WA wine open at same time. Wow. A primal wine.

2015 vintage

Return to Napa; 3/6/2022-3/13/2022 (Wineries and various restaurants) : First time with this producer who is obviously getting a lot of attention these days. Very restrained style. Very classic. Still a young wine, but will definitely keep an eye out for these in the future.

2010 vintage

This was a Polaner bottle - sourced from Panzer. No obvious flaws. No VA. But either shut down or just not very good. I think the later. Kept half the bottle a day to see if it improved. It did slightly flesh-out, but consistent with the current designation. This is a 10E table wine.

2015 vintage

Another sound bottle of this. Based on this bottle this has potentially closed down a bit. It needed a good hour or so in the decanter to open, but very good once it did.

2015 vintage

Sunday hangout (socially distanced) (Chicago, IL) : Yeah, pretty much just as I remember it being. Sweet black fruit, olive brine, and just an all-round explosive nose. Intense and fruity, but plenty of the requisite syrah elements here -- the olive brine, smoke, meat, it's all there. On the palate, this is broad-shouldered and is essentially a continuation of the nose. Phenomenal syrah that is still a tad primary. This has great further aging potential.

2010 vintage

The 2013 vintage of this wine started my love of Cote Rotie. It was amazing. So when I saw the 2015 vintage available, I quickly purchased half a case. THEN I read the reviews here and on wine bezerker and I started to get very worried that I'd just wasted $750 on a half case of bad wine. I had to wait 5 months to get the wine due to weather and then let it sit a little before opening. …

2015 vintage

No bueno. Decent fruit but the acids are volatile and this deteriorated with air. Did not finish the bottle. Such a terrible shame. This has absolutely nothing in common with the brilliant '10-13 Cordeloux, which are ageing phenomenally.

2015 vintage

Niche Niche 8/20 : Served blind to friends after Niche Niche. Colin had mentioned that this may be the worst wine he's ever had, which it has not been in my experience. This was given a 3/4 hour decant, but......it's just not great. It's not flawed, but not great. It's very grapey, there's a touch of VA and it never develops particular complexity; instead, a chocolate note begins to emerge as it stays longer in the decanter. Remains a fund …

2015 vintage

A Polaner bottle, drunk over two evenings - consistent with my previous bottle, no evidence of flaws, heat or spoilage, just young, though not without charm. I will say that this doesn’t seem like a long ager to me, I reckon it will be expressive in 5 years and will drink well in 10. Will be interesting to how this evolves alongside its peers.

2015 vintage

Apparently the bottling/vintage with significant bottling issues causing it to be down-labeled as VdF. (Edit: by bottling, meaning administrative/labeling problem, not anything that’s known to be problematic about the wine itself) Opaque ruby. Nose a smoky bbq note. Palate red fruit, some coffee notes, some fine tannin. Shows the ripe vintage character but enjoyable to drink now. Silky, great depth. Not sure how this would age, and not sure about the value. 90 pts for now purely for drinkability

2015 vintage

Zoom tasting with the wine group - Northern Rhone : When decanting this seemed almost light colored, but in the glass it’s a more normal medium ruby-purple appropriate for syrah; this nose though, very high toned, almost acetone or chemical in nature, very odd; palate is medium bodied, medium alcohol which almost veers towards warm despite 12.5% on the label, again chemical flavors with virtually no fruit, hollow midpalate; finish is medium-minus. Acceptable maybe only in comparison to <$10 Syrah, …

2015 vintage

So I popped another bottle, having been inspired by aagrawal's note. This is after a 3 hour decant. This is a bottle from the same retailer/importer that acquired additional bottles from Polaner. It's definitely got some of the recognizable characteristics of the first bottle I opened, but the palate feels totally shot. Like, it's sour and flat and empty. It also isn't developing the same tannic structure that I noticed in my first bottle. At the same time, the nose …

2015 vintage

A mess. Avoid this vintage.

2015 vintage

Horribly flawed, smelled corked and musty and mushroomy. What a shame.

2015 vintage

Asparagus gang at Imperial Treasure. Drank in Gabriel Standart. Appearance is clear, deep intensity, ruby colour. Legs. Nose is clean, medium+ intensity, with aromas of burnt rubber ?reductivensss, vanilla new oak, classic black pepper, black olives, opulent black cherry fruit. Youthful. On the palate, dry, high acidity, medium alcohol (12.5% that strangely feels a little higher), fine grained high tannins, full body. Medium+ flavour intensity, with flavours of opulent blackberry fruit, black cherries, classic black pepper, rubbery meat, sweet vanilla …

2015 vintage

adding more data points - opened two bottles within the span of 48 hours this past week. Both were miles ahead of the initial note I posted a couple months ago. Really pretty and full on the pop and pour. Has some of the 2015 ripeness which is expected. Did not need the aggressive decant to get the benetiere notes as the prior note did. Gave one bottle 12 hours in the decanter and it became a fairly hard and …

2015 vintage

Opened and put into decanter. Followed over 3+ hours. A very polished Côte Rotie. Floral notes, spice and a slight savory note. Only slight complaint is that the alcohol is a bit noticeable on the nose, but it is barely noticeable. This was originally a Polaner bottle. Certainly nothing wrong with this and I’m glad I grabbed a few. Approachable now but better with an additional few years of age.

2015 vintage

A Polaner bottle, at least originally - opened c. noon Saturday and tasted on and off through Sunday night. Nothing wrong with this, to be clear. No VA, no weirdness - some alcohol on the nose and palate but not off-putting or over the top. Somewhat impenetrable of course but there are evident notes of violet, olives and steak on the nose. On the palate its all about the weight - there is serious heft to this, real presence. With …

2015 vintage

Immediately poured half into a 375mL to save in the fridge for tomorrow. On PnP - Strangely alcoholic on both the midpalate and finish, but this settles down almost immediately. Aromas take time to coax, but definitely a strong blueberry and black cherry component that I've found in 2015 Northern Rhones. There's good depth to the aromatics. Moderate tannic structure developing after the first hour. Everything is in order, albeit not terribly complex. After 2 hours, Nose continue to open …

2015 vintage

This is flowing, perfumed, and elegant with some lovely nuance to the tones of black cherries, crushed raspberries, dark red fruits, cracked black pepper, tobacco notes, savory herbs, leather tones, and a good dose of violets. This is really expressive, if just a tick less than the bottle in November. The Medium bodied feel is elegant and poised with a lovely sense of style along with tart, medium+ acidity and silky, medium+ tannins that have a bit of youth. This …

2010 vintage

Rich bloody/meaty/black fruit aromas on the nose. On the palate it's great for the first hour but then kinda shuts down. I'd let this sleep a few years.

2010 vintage

This took about an hour to open up but simply gorgeous stuff. Many years ahead of it.

2010 vintage

An absolutely brilliant wine, already enjoyable now, but obviously still too young. The nose has stunning aromatics with a hint of black fruit, spice, and lots of briney olives and such. The palate shows exuberant fruit, almost to the verge of purple and jammy, but it's all held back by the incredible structure here. I'm not sure that this necessarily speaks to me loudly of Cote-Rotie in particular, but there's no debate that this is syrah par excellence.

2010 vintage

This bottle is firing on every possible cylinder right now. The nose is so deep and savory with gorgeous tones of dark red cherries, raspberries, black olives, black pepper, tobacco leaf, crushed rocks, violets, and wild flowers. This is a nose to get lost in. It just shows so many layers and poise right now that makes you stop and smell the pepper. The Medium bodied feel is deft and refined with crisp, medium+ acidity and chewy, medium+ tannins. The …

2010 vintage

Lovely nose of campfire, black fruits and smoky minerals. Beautifully balanced with flavors of charcoal and smoky blackberry. There is a finely-grained texture here with fine notes of minerals and dark spices. Suffered from being drunk alongside an Allemand Cornas but quite refined and delicious in its own right. It kept improving in the glass and clearly will benefit from more aging. 91+

2010 vintage

still deep and dark. Fine grained tannins on the nose with a tight intense syrah essence. Mineral rich and intense on palate.Ripe tannins and firm structure under the ripe fruit. Tightly wound . While delicious needs time to develop and improve. Excellent wine.

2010 vintage

Quick note from a friends 50th bday party. Wow stunner here. Mineral and saline mouthfeel with iron, lavander, cured meats and beef jerky, cherry fruit and pepper.

2010 vintage

Olives, tannin, stemmy. Fruit? A little? Raspberry? Very drinkable, but still feels pretty closed especially on the nose. I have a feeling it will better tomorrow night, and even more so in a few years. Luckily I have more!

2010 vintage

Wonderful cote rotie, with an array of flavour, subtle smoked game, black raspberries, hints of crushed rock and herbs, palate is surprisingly fresh and open for business even at this youthful point, tannins are there but is such an elegant way you almost seek them with each sip

2010 vintage

Another outstanding bottle of Benetiere, though not quite as expressive as this was right on release. The fruit's a bit more restrained here, and the stemmy elements stand out more on the aromatics, with other smoky and floral elements starting to slowly emerge with some air. The palate is as graceful as I recall - light on its feet, and very polished with a glossy texture and bright acids keeping it impeccably balanced and long. Fantastic. I can't wait to …

2010 vintage

A Syrah Friday at Domaine (Domaine Wine Storage, Chicago IL) : Nose: The nose was absurdly tight at the beginning. It took a lot of coaxing and swirling for about a half hour before much was revealed. When it did open up a bit, there was excellent balance and class with crushed rocks, black cherries, violets, black pepper, bacon fat, and tobacco tones. It took a bunch of goes to get all of the tones, but it was gorgeous when …

2010 vintage

Decanted 4 hrs. This shows classic black and red fruit gums, and lovely whole cluster notes. There's a delightful dark brown minerality and spice signature - I sometimes call it Levet perfume. Call it what you like, but it's sprinkled liberally here like crack-dust. This also has better acidity and freshness - with less roasted character - compared to the 2009. This 2010 just has it going on, it only needs time.

2010 vintage

2010 Northern Rhones tasted blind (Ross', NYC) : Once again, this is spectacular. There's an incredible fragrance here with great complexity, layers of pure fruit, olives, florality, high toned spice and more savoury earthy and meaty elements all coming together seamlessly on the nose and palate, and a very graceful, polished texture. My favourite of the night and I'm glad to have a few of these in the cellar.

2010 vintage

2010 Northern Rhones (+treats) at Ross' place : Very distinctive nose with lots of stems and green, and a saline, nori aspect - very umami - to go along with the more traditional dark fruit and smoke aspects. Similar on the palate - very stemmy and green (in a good way), savory and pretty.

2010 vintage

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Marie et Pierre Benetiere, Cote Rotie, Cordeloux

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