2015 Stéphane Ogier Côte-Rôtie Bertholon

Lurid violet color. Highly perfumed scents of ripe dark berries, cola and violet oil pick up a smoky bacon nuance with air. Offers expansive red/dark berry and floral pastille flavors that display a deft blend of richness and energy. Finishes juicy, smoky and very long, displaying lingering dark fruit character and slow-building tannins.

The Bertholon lieu-dit is located in the northern part of the appellation and there are only two producers who pull fruit from this site, Gaillard and Ogier. The 2015 Côte Rôtie Bertholon is a big, rich, chewy effort that offers the classic mineral, darker, masculine style of this region in the appellation. Darker fruits, dried earth, spice, and chocolate notes all emerge from this full-bodied red that will benefit from short-term cellaring and keep for two decades. I was able to taste the 2015s from the incredibly talented Stéphane Ogier twice, once during my visit at the estate, which was just after bottling, and then again from bottles shipped to my office in Colorado. These are ripe, polished, sexy wines from Stéphane that show the purity as well as the opulence of this great, great vintage. The 2016 vintage was compared to 2006 by Ogier, which was a solid, under the radar vintage from the northern Rhône. The barrel samples all showed terrific purity of fruit and balanced styles, and should check in near the top of the vintage. This estate is certainly at the top of its game and readers looking for some of the most profound Côte Rôties out there are advised to get on this estate’s bandwagon.

Inky ruby. Deep-pitched black and blue fruit, licorice pastille and floral aromas, backed by Indian spice and cola nuances. Sappy and broad on the palate, offering bitter cherry, cassis and fruitcake flavors that are given backbone and cut by a spine of juicy acidity. A smoky nuance makes an appearance on the impressively long, dark-fruit-driven finish, where rounded, harmonious tannins provide shape and grip.