2018 Domaine Bernard Levet, Côte-Rôtie, Améthyste, Northern Rhone, France.
As with the previous vintages, the 2018 Bernard Levet Côte-Rôtie cuvée Améthyste, 100% Syrah, is very opulent and luxuriously textured, again it is surprisingly open knit in a departure in style from most of the Levet wines, but still very much a terroir driven wine and absolutely delicious with beautifully layered dark fruits, subtle savage, a light dose of spice, pretty floral detail and excellent length. Levet’s importer Rosenthal says of the Améthyste, that it is a wine that is less severe, gripping and tight in nature and more open, which is obvious here in this vintage, but welcome, especially as I had it none decanted and with a causal meal. Pretty classic stuff for a poised and well made Côte-Rôte with a smooth medium/full bodied palate, giving loads of rich chocolaty dark boysenberry, damson plum, sweet cherry and blueberry compote fruits, again backed up and accented by violet florals, cedary wood, peppercorns, black olive, dried herbs, licorice and creme de cassis. Levet fermented the Améthyste with about 60% whole bunches, with no Viognier, and the lovely dark purple/garnet hued and mineral toned Améthyste, wonderfully inviting in the glass, is an elegant and seamless Côte-Rôtie to drink sooner versus later. This savvy 2018 is a bit fresher than the more ripe 2017 and there was a sense of lift and precision that really made it go fabulously well with late night Wally’s burger and fries in the cool Santa Monica location, all of which I highly recommend!
As noted before, the Levet Côte-Rôtie(s) are traditional, with partial whole cluster, usually more than 60%, and with selected yeasts being employed during an almost month long maceration with gentle hand punch downs. The winery explains that they do their primary Syrah fermentation in epoxy lined cuves with the cuvaison lasting at least three weeks while malolactic fermentation normally finishes by the end of the year. They then rack the wine into large oak barrels where it spends a few months, after which, at the beginning of the second year, the wines are moved into demi-muids, a medium sized oak cask with about 15% of which are new. Then for the third year, the Côte-Rôtie(s) are racked again and left to complete their barrel aging in a mixture of demi-muids and smaller barrels, with them seeing a totally elevage of 36 months before bottling with a light fining, but without filtration. The Domaine Bernard Levet has of 3.5 hectares of vineyards, all of which are located within the boundaries of the town of Ampuis, in the Côte Rôtie appellation, all in prime granite soiled zones, including their signature “Chavaroche” in Côte Brune with a southwest exposure and an average age 40 years, plus legendary Landonne old vines, Font Jean, Les Craies, Mollard and the Moulin, one of the most famous parcels that is situated just below Guigal’s La Turque. Levet, founded under this label with the 1983 vintage is run by Nicole and Bernard Levet with their vigneron daughter Agnes now doing most of the heavy lifting here and continues the excellence that has made this winery one of the savviest of the region to collect.
($75 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive