Côte Rôtie “Côteaux de Bassenon” AOC 2019

Côteaux de Bassenon is a Côte Rôtie from 40 % Serine, 40 % Syrah and 20 % Viognier. The vineyard was planted in 1896 and replanted in 1989. The vines are on steep slopes on migmatite, granite and biotite. The yield is extremely low, between 15 and 20 hl/ha. The wines are produced in the spirit of Jules Chauvet after a cool 24-hour pre-fermentation with a cool carbonic maceration over 20 days and aged for 24 months in used oak barrels sourced from Tronçais. The wine was not filtered or fined and only minimally sulphured.

dark purple with violet reflections and black core

The nose of the Côteaux de Bassenon combines notes of charcoal and dark tobacco with crushed flint and granite, tanned leather, star anise and clove as well as violet pastilles, some undergrowth and truffle. Of course, fruit is also present, and not in short supply. The Côte–Rôtie offers lavish amounts of ripe blackberries, blueberries and cranberries, plum jam with cinnamon and vanilla, elderberries and cranberries on pumpernickel. The more air and time you give it, the deeper the dimensions of the flavours become.

And as complex as the Côteaux de Bassenon The wine is as complex and deep on the palate as it is on the nose. There, it is incredibly dense without seeming even slightly heavy or ponderous, which is something you first have to achieve with this materiality. It is a wine you can lose yourself in for hours with its hints of pipe tobacco, chocolate and mocha, the dark fruit and the deep spice of cinnamon, juniper and anise, the hint of smoked meat and tartar, the violet and rose notes. At the same time, the wine completely clothes the palate with its dense fruit, the extract sweetness and the still youthful but elegant tannin, the dark garrigue spice and its notes reminiscent of undergrowth and forest. You can drink this wine now, if you give it a lot of time in the carafe, but actually this is a wine for decades.