2005 Gilles Barge Côte-Rôtie Côte Brune

Again, the pick of these two wines, although I wouldn’t buy either, is the 2005 Cote Rotie Cote Brune, which has some roasted vegetables in the nose along with plum, currant, and pepper. The wine is medium-bodied, dark ruby in color, and shows excellent ripeness and length. It has some tannin to resolve, but this will not be a long-lived wine. Drink it over the next 7-10 years. Barge, who was the president of the union of vignerons until a few years ago, is one of the most active men in the village. Ever since I first met him, he has been a staunch traditionalist, but he has exhibited more flexibility over the last decade. His best wine is always his Cote Brune, which comes from one of his largest holdings, a mere 3.5 or so acres high up in the hills behind his cellar, but the whole estate is only about 18 acres in size. One doesn’t find a lot of new oak here, as it is generally used only to replace barrels, but there are a lot of 550-liter demi-muids in the cellar. Importer: A Christopher Cannan Selection, various American importers including Michael Skurnik, Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300 and Diamond Wine Merchants, Oakland, CA; tel. (510) 567-9897