2003 Cote Rotie Les Grandes Places
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Tasting notes
Clearly drinking in the sweet spot, the fruit is ripe, round, sweet and satisfying. The texture is soft, round and even slightly voluptuous, with no sensation of heat, or jammy notes. The finish is sweet, pure and supple. Popped and poured, the finish was a bit shorter than I would have liked, else my score would have been higher.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Structured, expansive, and profound is the 2003 Cote Rotie Les Grandes Places. Revealing notes of espresso roast interwoven with creme de cassis, blackberries, plums, and flowers, this full-bodied, powerful, rich, youthful, backward Cote Rotie requires 1-3 years of bottle age, and drink it over the following 15. Importer: Daniel Johnnes, Jeroboam Imports, New York, NY; tel. (212) 625-2505
Dark ruby color. Intensely oaky nose offers strong scents of creme de mure vanilla, cinnamon and candied licorice. Thick and rich in the mouth, showing plum jam and blackberry liqueur flavors tinged by sweet new oak. This shows the hot vintage character more than the estate's basic bottling. Long and powerful on the finish, with thick, serious tannins.
(50% new oak) Red-ruby. More complex, scented nose of raspberry, pepper, gunflint and brown spices. Ripe and dense but fresher than the normale , with more energy in the mouth. Flavors of red fruits, tobacco and pepper. Actually comes across as a bit drier and more classic than the regular cuvee , but also quite suave in texture. The combination of the wine's acids and tannins give the finish a slight dry edge. But this is less atypical Cote-Rotie than the cuvee classique