2003 Pierre Gaillard Côte-Rôtie Côte Rozier

The creme of the lineup is the 2003 Cote Rotie Cote Rozier. Made from 100% Syrah, it’s a masculine and structured Cote Rotie that has lively dark fruits, smoked herbs, bacon fat and searing minerality, as well as medium to full-bodied richness and depth on the palate. Youthful, and just at the early stages of maturity, it’s an impressive bottle of wine that has another decade or more of longevity. Located in the northern part of Saint Joseph, Pierre Gaillard fashions classic, old-school-styled reds from Saint Joseph and Cote Rotie. For this tasting, I had some bottle variation with a few of these, and a number showed excessive acidity from other bottles. As always with these older vintages, Provenance is critical, and even then, sometime you’re just unlucky.