2013 Clusel-Roch, Cote-Rotie, Vialliere, Rhone Red, France.
The 2013 Cote-Rotie’s from Domaine Clusel-Roch are a set of excellent and elegant Syrah wines, very beautiful, textured and vital offerings that will lend themselves to early drinking pleasure and reward those with a lack of patience! The vibrantly intense Vialliere Cru, from almost impossibly steep granite slopes and small yielding hand farmed and picked vines, is lovely with a deep almost inky hue of garnet, purple and ruby which leads to a fine palate of classic terroir driven character and layers with ripe tannin and less whole cluster influence than you’d expect from this organic Domaine, unlike the stemy 2011’s and or the lighter tangy/tart 2012’s the Clusel-Roch 2013’s are on a whole new level of balance, focus and rich majesty. The profile of this gorgeous Vialliere comes through with boysenberry, mulberry, crushed violets, peppercorns, graphite/camphor, Greek olive, earth/briar, salted black licorice as well as blueberry, creme de cassis and lingering damson plum, kirsch and lavender oil. While there is a hint of cedar wood it is sublimely subtle and everything here feels silken and pure, one of the most refined and lifting Cote-Rotie bottlings I can remember from Clusel-Roch, hats off to Guillaume and his mum Bridgette and dad Gilbert, this is a stunning example and a great wine. The dial back in this vintage of whole cluster or the vintage itself adds a new dimension and sense of grace, without taking away anything from the wine as a whole or changing the house style, I was left very impressed and with a huge smile on my face, and while I adored the 2011’s and still do, these 2013’s are very special, I would think they will continue to improve and fill out over the next 3 to 5 years, though as mentioned, they will offer lots of fun and seductive charm even young. I can easily see my own score rise a few points on this Vialliere, and you should check out the basic cuvee that delivers a performance that is almost on this level and the top cuvee Les Grandes Places that is certainly the most densely packed, chewy and powerful, that will make it more attractive to cellar, honestly they all rock!
($90 Est.) 93+ Points, grapelive
