Domaine René Rostaing - Côte-Rôtie Ampodium 2020

Druva

Syrah

Tasting note

Pierre Rostaing has been shortening the cuvaison for this cuvée, and the 2020 Cote Rotie Ampodium received closer to three weeks on the skins than four. It's still impressively dark and rich, with scents of black olives, violets, raspberries and a touch of orange zest. Medium to full-bodied and velvety in feel, it looks like a strong year for the estate's blended wine.

It was the end of a long Sunday of winery visits when I slumped into Le Beau Rivage in Condrieu to meet Pierre Rostaing for dinner (and a few more wines). Since I hadn't been able to visit the winery, he brought some representative blends of wines still in barrel, plus a few other treats to taste, but we didn't cover the full range of wines this year.

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Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Young Pierre Rostaing has been on a roll, making some of the best wines in Côte Rôtie from his family's choice parcels in La Landonne, La Côte Blonde and Côte Brune. It's my impression that the quality of the blended Ampodium is also reaching new heights, although it cannot compete with the near perfection achieved by the single-vineyard wines. In 2018, Rostaing explained: The months of May and June were wet, but there was enough time between the rain events to allow effective treatments. Come the first week of harvest, given the high temperatures on September 2 (30 degrees to 35 degrees Celsius), Rostaing said that by September 5, the team recognized that they needed to get the grapes into the winery as quickly as possible. The 2018s, said Rostaing, are "rich, aromatic and expressive." The (mostly) bottled 2017s come across as more tannic and muscular than the 2016s, a difference Rostaing attributes to yields that were about 15% to 20% lower than the preceding vintage. The top wines should easily last for two decades. Finally, don't neglect the IGP and Languedoc offerings being made by Rostaing. Sure, by comparison to the family's top offerings from Côte Rôtie, they're mere teases, but they're tasty, fun-to-drink wines that typically sell for realistic prices.

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Robert Parker Wine Advocate