Bottles should not be made to look this ugly

The label on this Gaillard Cote-Rotie is simply disgusting. The fonts are hideous and the less said about the woeful daubing of a picture the better. I hope it is not meant to be a warning about the contents of the bottle as I haven’t had one of his wines in ages and so worry they might have become awful.

That being said, I never really got on with Gaillard’s most famous wines. His single vineyard ‘Clos de la Cuminaille’ Saint-Josephs have always seemed rather contrived and made; too heavy a hand in the winery that obscures the natural character of the wine. Still, I like Cote-Rotie, this was cheap and I hadn’t seen the label then.

Cote-Rotie 2006 by Pierre GaillardCote-Rotie 2006, Pierre Gaillard

Oh yes, lovely nose. Pure, focussed fruit of distinct ripeness with a rich, fulsome earthiness supporting it. Not over-ripe, nor too alcoholic, nor dominated by wood, this is a svelte little charmer on the nose – just flashes enough of it’s pretty poonts to enliven you without going over the top and pushing them right in your face so you’re smothered by excessive bouncers. It’s a bit of a winner on the palate, too. Medium bodied with plenty of fruit and a taut structure that is really lively enough to keep your interest up. The acidity is just great with the ripe fruit, it all seems bright and energetic. There is some earthy complexity that harmonises with the fruit very well – it’s really quite an attractive little number, and it has put on it’s dancing shoes to skip across my palate today. Great now, will probably keep for five to ten years if you like them like that. A winningly winsome Cote-Rotie that I look forward to having with The Editor’s spiffing Scotch eggs shortly.

This was another of my recent acquisitions from The Wine Society. If you look carefully there are usually a few bargain quality wines on their list. I’ve got a magnum of 2000 Alfred Gratien Champagne being delivered by them tomorrow – that’s for the cellar.