2014 Domaine Stéphane Ogier, Côte Rôtie, Reserve, Northern Rhône, France.
Wow, this gorgeous Reserve Côte Rôtie from Stéphane Ogier is really hitting a sweet spot with beautifully purity and secondary evolution on display in the glass, it shows off fine dried violets, subtle meaty notes, briar laced boysenberry, damson plum and kirsch layers and hints of tapenade, smoky flint, anise and lingering creme de cassis. This wine, and a couple of others, including a rare 2005 Châteauneuf du Pape cuvée, a Pontet-Canet Bordeaux and a Chassagne-Montrachet, raised the game at a causal BBQ to a very different level, and very quickly turned the evening into a much more serious event. The other wines were on point, but I kept coming back to the Ogier, its complexity, depth and delicately feral notes were compelling and I was seduced by its charms. I learned that Ogier blended up his Côte-Rôtie Réserve from several barrels from top parcels, with the lieu-dits of Leyat, Champons, Lancement, Fongeant and Montmain in the mix. The average age of vines were about 40 years old at the time and the farming done by hand with a double sorting process in the vineyard and on the sorting table in winery. This cuvée, 100% Syrah, no Viognier added, saw close to 30% whole cluster, native yeast fermentation with a cold maceration in thermo-regulated stainless steel tanks. The Reserve Côte Rôtie was then aged 20 months in French oak barrels with 20% new wood used. Ogier says this wine captures the full terroir with the soils being 65% Brune, microschist, and 35% Blonde, granite and gneiss, which allows the precision of the details to shine through, but also delivers the hedonistic richness, full vinous mouth feel and the wonderful aromatics to stimulate the senses. Though, not the most acclaimed of years, this 2014 has come into its own and it still has a decade of pleasure to go, and savvy Syrah fans should look for this one.
When it comes to Syrah, as far as I was concerned in the earlier part of my wine career, it was in the 90’s that you had to have on your bucket list the likes of Rostang, Guigal and maybe Verset, now it is Ogier, Chave and Clape, that are the northern Rhônes you must have! The Ogier family has been rooted in Ampuis, and the heart of the fabled Côte Rône, or Roasted Slope, for seven generations and since he was about six years old, current owner and winemaker Stéphane Ogier knew he was going to be a winemaker. He followed in his winemaker father Michel’s footsteps and began his journey into the world of wine with a confident belief in himself and the place. Interestingly enough in 1997, after completing his oenological studies in Beaune, where he was in the capital of Burgundy and Pinot Noir, Stéphane gained a new perspective and formally joined the family estate and in the last 20 years has become one of the region’s top producers. The Ogier domaine crafts their wines from about 27 acres of vineyards, including some of the most famous Côte-Rôtie sites, such as Lancement, Côte-Rozier, and La Viallière. Also, other from his top Côte-Rôtie wines, Ogier makes a Côtes du Rhône Le Temps est Venu and several basic Syrah wines like the L’Ame Soeur and my favorite La Rosine, plus an outstanding Condrieu, which is one of my favorite Viognier bottlings! Again, I followed this Côte Rôtie over the course of the evening and watched it with awe and it was sublime with the grilled steak, which enhanced the core of dark fruits, adding some blueberry compote and Turkish fig. and gave it a riper and more supple presence without taking away from its firm and chiseled structure. Thanks again, for the generous dig into his cellar, to my friend and wine professional Alex Lallos, who brought out a stunning selection of wines to celebrate a warm Summer evening. I highly recommend, digging into the lineup at Stéphane Ogier, but give the top cuvées time to mature.
($75-125 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive