2019 Bernard Levet Côte-Rôtie la Chavaroche
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Tasting notes
Glass-staining ruby. Displays powerful aromas of ripe black and blue fruits, licorice, bacon fat and candied violet that show impressive clarity and mineral lift. Deep and energetic in the mouth, offering intense, densely packed bitter cherry, cassis, fruitcake and exotic spice flavors that become sweeter through the back half. Shows outstanding clarity and vibrancy on the strikingly long, focused finish, which features gripping tannins and reverberating floral and exotic spice notes.
Critic scores
Jeb Dunnuck
Josh Raynolds
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Lastly, the 2019 Côte Rôtie La Chavaroche comes from a single lieu-dit in the northern part of the appellation, and it’s just about as good as wild, classic, traditional Côte Rôtie gets. Vivid purple, with an incredible bouquet cracked black pepper, violets, iron, bloody beef, and assorted red, blue, and black fruits, it has more obvious minerality than the slightly more rounded Les Journaries, flawless balance, and enough structure to warrant upwards of a decade of bottle age. The purity of fruit in all these 2019 is something to behold, and readers should seek these wines out.
The most impressive wine I tasted at Levet was the 2019 Cote Rotie La Chavaroche (known as La Peroline in most markets). Scents of crushed stone, bacon fat, violets, Asian five spice powder, purple raspberries and grilled plums make for a wonderfully enthralling and complex nose, while the full-bodied palate is concentrated and richly textured, leading into a long, velvety finish. Wow.
Pungent, spice-accented dark berry liqueur, candied violet and licorice scents, along with hints of olive paste, smoky bacon and exotic spices. Palate-staining cassis, cherry liqueur, floral pastille and fruitcake flavors show serious depth and a spine of juicy acidity. Expands slowly with aeration and finishes extremely long and smoky, with mounting tannins and outstanding, mineral-driven tenacity. All whole clusters.