Côte-Rôtie 2018
A warm year (2018) from Burgundy. Long, ripe shaped the season — read it bottle-down below.
A warm year (2018) from Burgundy. Long, ripe shaped the season — read it bottle-down below.
A healthy bud-break set the frame for the year; perfume began here, in the cold mornings.
A clean fruit-set filled the bunches; the body you taste was rationed out in June.
The grapes turned colour fast and sugars climbed hard. This heat is exactly where the alcohol came from — you can taste August in the glass.
Picked before the heat ate the acidity; firm tannin to hold the ripe fruit for years in the cellar.
Aromas of dark cherry, violet and a savoury, earthy edge; a full body carried by soft, rounded acidity and firm, age-worthy tannin. Drinking well now through 2026.
Hand-harvested, wild-yeast fermentation in a mix of stainless and old oak; minimal handling, unfined where possible. Bottled with a light touch of sulphur.
2018 in Burgundy: long, ripe, a warm year overall (warmth index 80/100). The structure above is the readable consequence of exactly that weather — the descent shows you where each number was made.
Cellar at 12–14°C. Serve at 16–18°C; decant 60–90 minutes.
Tasted exactly like the page promised — you can feel the hot August in the glass. Bought two more.
The season-descent sold me, and the bottle delivered. Brilliant length.
Beautiful now; I suspect even better in three years. Packed and delivered cold.