Domaine René Rostaing Côte Blonde, Côte-Rôtie, 2015

Côte Blonde is the other face of Côte-Rôtie, and almost its antithesis. Where La Landonne on the Côte Brune speaks in dense, dark, mineral terms, the Blonde is built on perfume and silk, the golden-ochre soils yielding Syrah of a different emotional register entirely. Rostaing farms vines of over seventy years on these slopes, roots that have reached deep into the arzel and found something remarkable. The 2015 shows the warmth and generosity of a long, fine summer in exquisite proportion. The nose brings violets, cinnamon, tobacco, and exotic spice in a perfume of real elegance. On the palate, the characteristic delicacy of the Blonde is intact: fine tannins, a certain transparency of texture, and a finish that unfolds slowly through layers of violet, dark cherry, and cool minerality. Viognier, co-fermented in the traditional Côte-Rôtie manner, adds a thread of floral complexity that lifts the whole. A wine of unusual sensory refinement.