Unless you know the producer and vintage of a Cote-Rotie before you pop it, you can often be surprised by the variation in styles they show. Some are heavy and dense, some light and refined. Some can be as Bretty as a farmyard whilst others clean as a whistle. My preference is for the clean, elegant numbers and Clusel-Roch rarely fail to deliver in this regard. Indeed, I cannot think of a bottle of Clusel-Roch I’ve popped that I didn’t utterly adore.
Consequently, I am rather chuffed that I have a magnum of their wine that I am going to pop to celebrate Elitistreview’s sixth anniversary next Monday. A bunch of chums are going to meet up at Hawksmoor (so should that be ‘meat up’?) and we are going to nosh on London’s best steaks; hooray! I’m told the aesthetically-challenged arse A. A. Gill was recently very rude about Hawksmoor’s steaks. If so, it further proves that he is a pathetic hack whose writing is dripping with his pathological fear that he’ll be found out as knowing nothing about food. Much like that other [link2post id=”345″]odious git Nossiter[/link2post] he seems convinced that his pretentious musings are of supreme interest to the extent that they are all he writes about rather than actually bothering to review the restaurants he visits. Back to Cote-Rotie:
[image image_id=”5485″ size=”medium” align=”left”]Cote-Rotie 2001, Domaine Clusel-Roch
This nose it utterly at ease with itself as a superlatively harmonious and classy entity. The fruit is super-elegant and pretty and the intricate earthiness is irresistibly complex. It really speaks to me as being totally beautiful and up for drinking – it is the best Cote-Rotie I’ve had in an age. To smell this is to love it, and I bet tasting it will be even better so I’ll do that now. By arse, it is full of stars. OK, their single-vineyard, old vines bottling may be better than this, but the silky smooth, finesse-charged, supremely balanced delight this is on the palate makes it impossible to do anything but love this. There is more than enough complexity here and it is fully mature. The gorgeously attractive flavours just last and last. A truly amazing wine of utter beauty, and not that pricey either. From The Wine Society.
Bought a couple of bottles a week or so ago. Just as well – I expect it will sell out pretty soon!
It certainly should, it is an amazing wine and you were wise to score some, my young friend. Be prepared for utter beauty!
How long do you think it will keep for?
I’ll drink it over the next few years, it really doesn’t need so much more time.
I had a bottle of this at the weekend after buying it on your recommendation. It was bloody brilliant – amazing nose. Obviously all sold out at the Wine Society now.
Pleased you enjoyed it, Piers, quite stunningly beautiful, eh? I managed to score myself four more bottles before the Wine Soc got cleaned out and I am damned pleased with my purchase. A screaming bargain for the extreme brilliance of it.
Thanks for dropping by.