2010 Vignobles Levet Côte-Rôtie Les Journaries

Deep ruby and opaque in color, the 2010 Cote Rotie Les Journaries offers a terrific bouquet of smoked plums and currant-like fruit intermixed with smoked meat, iron, violets and hints of charcoal. Wild and slightly funky, yet holding onto beautiful purity of fruit, this is a classic, medium to full-bodied Cote Rotie that has solid concentration, bright acidity and fine tannin, all of which are carried by a seamless, elegant texture. Give bottles another 3-4 years and enjoy this beauty through 2030.

Dark purple. Intense, smoke- and spice-accented scents of cassis and cherry compote, with a sexy floral nuance emerging with air. Offers powerful dark berry and violet pastille flavors and a building note of candied licorice. Closes on a smoky note, with appealing sappiness, pliant tannins and impressive length. Shows a surprising level of complexity today but this wine is structured to reward patience.

Inky purple. Complex, deeply pitched nose combines black raspberry, licorice, dark chocolate, violet, tobacco and cracked pepper; emphatically syrah. Dense and powerful but with very good definition and energy to its black and blue fruit, spice and anise flavors. Finishes with a fine dusting of tannins and impressive length. This looks like it will reward patience.