2001 Domaine Michel & Stephane Ogier Cote-Rotie Lancement

Saturated ruby-red. Knockout nose combines black fruits, black pepper, tar, roast coffee, bitter chocolate, mocha and brown spices. Then peppery and dense in the mouth, with uncanny verve for a wine with such a velvety texture and compelling sweetness. A wine of great finesse and nuance, but also distinctly large-scaled for an example from the Cote Blonde. Extremely broad and long on the back end, with lingering notes of roasted herbs and tapenade and a peppery quality to its tannins. Great syrah. I'd love to stick this wine in a blind tasting with the most sought-after cult shirazes from Australia This wine would have the sheer density to compete even with Aussie examples at 16% alcohol, and in terms of energy, primary fruit character and complexity of soil tones, this would leave the Australian wines in its dust. (ST)

(aging in 50% new oak) Saturated bright ruby-red. Floral, fruit-driven aromas of black cherry, cassis, licorice, pepper and violet. Then explosive and impressively primary in the mouth, with extremely intense flavors of dark fruits, minerals and pepper all lifted by a captivating floral element. With its verve and floral perfume, there's something almost Burgundian about this wine. Primary, fruity finish features substantial dusty but ripe tannins and excellent lift.

(a new wine, from the Ogiers' largest holding, just above the Cote Blonde; aging in 50% new and 50% one-year-old barriques) Deep, bright ruby. Tight black fruit, licorice and tar aromas, with a violety, minty austerity. Dense and highly concentrated, with high-pitched flavors of dark berries, flowers and gunflint. Extremely youthful wine with a powerful peppery note on the long finish. Tannins are already quite fine, but this wine should grow even longer during its final months in barrel. Stephane Ogier told me the family would bottle this wine on its own only in vintages in which this approach would not compromise the cuvee classique, but it's hard to believe that the basic wine won't be changed as a result.