Every Sunday at 7:30 am I'm going deep
into my wine cellar to pull out the last
of some very great bottles. I promise rare
wines for the cellar- builder in very limited
quantities, gems of astonishing quality
carrying highly pedigreed labels that will
tempt the most temperate among us.
So, don't hit the snooze! These wines will be
gone, gone, gone, quickly.
An "A" for the 2006 Cote Rotie vintage!
Stephane Pichat Cote Rotie from the
very
fine 2006 vintage - the fruit of a Burgundy,
the
age-ability of a Bordeaux.
"Growers around Cote-Rotie in the far north
of the
valley were especially happy, as yields
returned to
normal after the low-yielding 2003 and 2005
seasons,
and the wines showed terrific color and
length..." A- for the vintage!
Wine Spectator 2006 Vintage Report
"Most of the 2006 possess intense fruit with
fresh
acidity, but less powerful tannins than the
2005s. The
wines should be drinkable at a much earlier
age and
because of their intrinsic balance and
equilibrium, the
top efforts should age beautifully for 10-15
years."
The Wine Advocate -
Robert Parker
The fruit and intensity of a Burgundy and the
age-
ability of a Bordeaux. Is this the perfect
wine?
Let me say something about Cote Rotie. The
first view
of the vineyards is unforgettable. Situated
at a bend in
the river the slopes rise at points 1000 feet
vertically
from the riverside at a stunning 30 to a
nose bleed 55
degree angle. This stunning wall of vines looks
impossible to cultivate. It is for any method
except
laborious hand labor. No tractor or even
horse and
cart could work these slopes. They are just
too steep.
All challenges have their rewards and the
Cote Rotie's
is a perfect southern exposure. This combines
with a
clay limestone soil and a rocky large stone
surface
that soaks up the hot southern sun all day and
radiates heat back onto the precious vines of
the
"Roasted Slope" all evening. This makes for
fabulous
ripening conditions and intense concentrated
fruit from
those precarious hillside vines.
The area is small. The entire Cote Rotie
appellation is
only 321 acres. Mouton Rothschild in Bordeaux
alone
is 185 acres and there are many larger
estates in the
Medoc. Cote Rotie in total only produces 80,000
cases annually. Individual growers typically
only have
2 to 4 acres of production to which they
devote a huge
amount of personal attention. The results are
worth it.
One sip is enough to understand why they do
it.
At a tasting in Ampuis, the capital of Cote
Rotie (there
is no village named for the wine), I met a young
grower named Stephane Pichat who had just
produced his first vintage. His 2000 was a
triumph but
the quantity was minuscule - only 900 bottles
produced. I was able to snap up a very small
quantity
- ten (six bottle) cases.
When I got home the annual La Revue du
Vin de
France (the definitive French wine journal)
arrived with the first press on the new
grower. They
awarded Stephane their "Coup de Coeur 2002"
award for the Cote Rotie wines they tasted.
Coup de
Coeur is a bit hard to translate but
essentially means
"closest to my heart"
Stephane is just the sort of person you want
to make
friends with in Cote Rotie - deadly serious
about his
winemaking with prices lagging far behind his
talent.
With a bottle of Cote Rotie going for
$75-$150 these
days (and those aren't even the fancy ones
like La
Mouline ). Those are going for $500 a
bottle - yes,
that is 5 with a capital 5!).
Stephane is
definitely a
breath of fresh air.
Stephane's Cote Rotie: Le
Champon comes from
granite/schist soil.
The
Champon
is raised in 70% new oak and aged in
barrel for
two years.
Le Champon is rich with fabulous
concentration and balance. Stephane says . Le Champon
in 2006 will
be ready earlier than other vintages but will improve for 10 years,
I think everybody should experience Cote
Rotie;
it's
one of the world's most exalted wines
and with
Pichat
holding his prices down (at least for the
moment), it is
still an affordable great wine experience.
Cynthia Hurley
