Stéphane Ogier Côte-Rôtie ‘But de Mont’ 2010

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Earlier this year a spent a couple of hours with Stéphane. Closing my eyes I can still recall the beguiling scent that lifted from the glass of each wine he poured. We tasted through the Lieu Dit, individual sites, of his Côte-Rôtie vineyards, his knowledge of the sites was only matched by the individual expression each of the wines gave us. The hit rate of the descriptors: stunning, harmony, layering, purity, length, complexity, beautiful tannins, balance, restraint and poise across the tasting was insane!

Turning to a selection of older wines from 2010, 2007 and 2005 everything just made sense. The power yet elegance of these wines with the addition of additional layers of complexity, secondary characteristic only developed with time was on show. Such exceptional wines with so much personality.

About Stéphane Ogier

Sometimes you meet a winemaker and there is a little spark, in their eye, you can just tell they have all the passion needed to excel. Then you taste!

Style

Fresh, vibrant, poised, harmonious, layered, and, of great length. No super-ripe fruit characters, heavy-handed oak and just a splash of Viognier. Ogier want’s Viognier to be complexing, not an individual character in his wines. As is the norm, it is a field blend, when included in a wine and typically less than 5%. For reference Guigal’s La Turque has 7%, and, La Mouline 11% Viognier.

What happens when you blend Shiraz & Viognier

The blending of Shiraz and the white grape Viognier originated in Côte-Rôtie. The interplay between the two varieties is truly something special.

Co-fermenting rather than blending finished wines simply results in greater harmony and expression.

The colour of the wine becomes darker as a scientific phenomenon known as co-pigmentation occurs, small compounds from the Viognier stabilises the large colour compounds from the Shiraz.

Perfume, flowers, and, spice from the Viognier adding intrigue to the aroma. Making it so much more inviting!

Those aromas carry through to the palate where the last bit of magic happens. The tannins develop differently to 100% Shiraz wines, beautifully refined, and, silky they offer a wonderful feeling in your mouth. mouthfeel.

Tim Kirk from Clonkilla was kindly sent me a mixed case, including some experimental wines not for release. In it, 3 wines, 100% Viognier, 100% Shiraz, the components of his Shiraz Viognier, and, the Shiraz Viognier itself. A fascinating tasting, you could see how each of the component wines contributed to the blend. The blend just had something extra. This is the result of fermenting the red grapes of Shiraz with the white Viognier. The chemical soup that exists during fermentation ends up coming together to be greater than the sum of its parts.

In Côte-Rôtie the vineyards are mixed plantings with Viognier vines next to Shiraz, all picked at the same time. The proportion of Viognier ranging from none up to 10-12%.

Shiraz or Syrah

You’d think that Shiraz would be easy to explain. The relatively recent expansion of cool climate vineyards throughout Australia, and, experimentation with a wide array of making techniques has seen an increase in the diversity of styles produced. Think Canberra, the Yarra Valley, Adelaide Hills, and, Mornington.

At the same time, the warmer, established regions like the Barossa and McLaren Vale are rapidly evolving the styles of Shiraz they produce. A new wave of producers are making wines of restraint, and, elegance, through earlier picking and careful handling of fruit.

In the Rhône Valley, particularly around Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage and Cornas, we see some extreme vineyards that climb into the skies from the Rhône River at calf breaking angles. Some, terraced, others taking rocks that have made their way to the bottom of the slopes, on a anual pilgrimage back to the top.

When you have exceptional Shiraz the opportunity to experiment with whole berries, whole bunches, stalk use, cold maceration, extended maceration, fermentation vessel, maturation vessel, cap management, and, any of 1,000’s of other variables is possible.

In Australia, we are seeing increasing use of whole bunch ferments for at least a portion of the fruit. The perfume, stalk tannin-rich wines, layering extra dimensions into the aromas and textures of the typically more restrained wines.

Single Vineyard vs Blend

Over time ‘fashions’ have shifted from blends to single vineyard wines. Perhaps driven by the popularity of Burgundy, we’ve seen the Barolista making single vineyard or Cru wines as they call them, Australia has followed, in the 70’s Guigal launched the La La’s, creating three of the now most renowned single vineyard wines of the world.

Staunch ‘terroirists’ will claim a wine loses its identity, it’s sense of place if blended. Personally, I just want to drink great wine, whether, blended or single site. Aldo Conterno’s top wine is a blend of three adjacent vineyards, Vietti’s Castiglione represents, perhaps, their best value Barolo, and, often includes the fruit from the Villero vineyard, that, in exceptional years makes their Riserva, Sandrone’s Le Vigne is a blend, yet all of these wineries also make single vineyard wines. With my consumer hat on I just get to enjoy the fruits of their labour!

Sitting down with Stéphane Ogier and trying his Lieux Dits, which translates to ‘said location’, and, refers to a specific site akin to a single vineyard. Trying 6 of his Lieux Dits across both the Côte Blonde and Brune was a fantastic experience, as Stéphane walked us through the sites, terms like feminine, masculine, floral, savoury, earthy, and structured come through. Each wine had a great personality. Most would stand on their own, one or two looked to offer more structural elements, without the balance of fruit weight, although this judgement needs to be reserved given the youth of the wine. Tasting aged wines from the Ogier demonstrated just how much the blossom after just a few extra years in bottle.

When we got to the blended Reserve, containing each of the Lieux Dits, the whole, was definitely greater than the sum of the parts. The poise and harmony of the wine were at the next level.

So, my challenge to Guigal is to make a 4 pack with the 3 La La’s individually and a blend of the 3 La La’s!

Where in the World is Côte-Rôtie?

Today’s wines all hail from the Northern part of the Rhône Valley between Vienne and Valence.

Côte-Rôtie itself is split into to main sub-regions, the Côte Blonde and the Côte Brune. Hermitage is some 50km further South down the Rhône River.

If you face the hill from the Château d’Ampuis itself to the South you find the Côte Blonde, where soils are heavy with granite and produce elegance feminine wines.

To the North lies the Côte Brune, here the soils comprise mica schists and clay, yielding more masculine, structured wines.

Like Burgundy, individual vineyards in Côte-Rôtie have been identified, named, and, clear boundaries established.

Ogier’s Côte-Rôtie Reserve wine is made from 7 of these vineyards with a mix from the Côte Blonde and Côte Brune: But du Mont, Fongeant, Côte Bodin, Bertholon, Montmain, La Viallière, and, Lancement.

While there is individual bottlings of Lancement and Belle H

Where Hermitage is dominated by 4 main producers, including Guigal, Côte-Rôtie, now has around 100 producers making wine from it’s 550acres of plantings.

Vintage 2010

While the 2009s are unusually plump and ripe – particularly attractive attributes in a region whose Syrah vines sometimes struggle to ripen fully – the 2010s are devoid of puppy fat and are better at expressing terroir. The juiciness of wines grown on sand, the freshness of those from limestone, and the majestic concentration of those from vines whose roots try to penetrate granite are all particularly evident in the 2010s.

The summer of 2010 was much cooler than 2009, especially at night, and yields much lower, so that the ripening process seems to have been slower, steadier and more complete. After a cold winter, spring 2010 was usefully wet, but the flowering in June was unusually extended in changeable weather so that an exceptionally low proportion of potential grapes was fully formed on each bunch.

Overall, the northern Rhône 2010s are delightful – ripe but fresh and silky. After a reasonably but not uncommonly dry summer, early September rains usefully propelled vines towards full ripeness and an easy harvest in late September and, in many cases, early October. Purist Jean-Marc Jamet describes 2010 as ‘really perfect’. Certainly, the bunches with their reduced number of berries were loose enough to stave off any rot or disease and such grapes as were picked were very healthy.