2017 Cote Rotie Les Rochains

More powerful and backwards, the 2017 Côte Rôtie Les Rochins offers more black (and some blue) fruits as well as stunning crushed flowers, violets, liquid rock, spice-driven aromas and flavors. Taking time to open up, it's full-bodied, beautifully concentrated, has fine, silky tannins, and a great finish. It's the finest vintage of this cuvée I've tasted, and while it needs 3-4 years of bottle age, it should drink fabulously well for two decades. As I wrote last year, the running of Domaine Garon has passed largely to sons Kévin and Fabien Garon, who came on board at the domaine starting in 2003. While quality was reliable in the 2000s, since 2010, everything appears to have been on a steady upward trajectory, with the 2015 being the finest wines I’ve tasted from the estate, and magical wines produced in both 2017 and 2018. Lovers of pure, classical Côte Rôtie need to get on this estate’s bandwagon ASAP!

Fragrant floral scent, peppery spice and fine, firm tannins. Bitter olive and liquorice on the finish. Quite a high dose of alcohol on the finish, seemingly, but the power of fruit balances well. (RH)

Glass-staining ruby. An expressive, highly perfumed bouquet evokes ripe black currant, cherry cola, licorice and olive paste, and a smoky mineral flourish adds vivacity. Fleshy and broad in the mouth, offering sweet black and blue fruit flavors that unfurl slowly on the back half. Rich yet lively as well, showing excellent clarity and gripping tannins on the long, sappy, blue-fruit-dominated finish. This is the richest of Garon's 2017s, by a pretty fair margin.