2005 Rene Rostaing - Cote-Rotie Cote Blonde

($150) Ruby-red. Deep cherry and creme de cassis aromas are complicated by cured tobacco, olive, licorice, espresso and minerals, along with a suave floral overtone. Deep, sweet and palate-saturating, offering intense dark berry and cherry flavors and a lovely energizing minerality that builds with air. Delivers serious flavor impact but has a compellingly graceful character, finishing with persistent sweetness and outstanding clarity. Rostaing thinks that this could easily go for 20 years, but |as usual, I'd prefer it younger than that-maybe 10 for me.|

Author: Josh Raynolds

Issue: January/February 2008

An alluring red, with perfumy white pepper, violet, iron and black cherry notes that gain more depth and grip through the finish. Long and pure, with great minerality, this puts on serious weight as it sits in the glass.

Author: James Molesworth

Chez Genesis: Very heady and gentler than the Landonne. Neat and fresh and much more approachable than Landonne. Quite rich and chewy but the fruit overwhelms the structure.Chez J&B: Still relatively pale colour - blonde indeed. But haunting nose - almost burgundian in its fleshy sensuality. Lovely sweet palate entry and great appetising balance though still with a lot of oak influence on the finish. This is delicate fruit that should be left alone for quite a while. Should make a great bottle.

Author: Jancis Robinson

Issue: 12-09-2006

Like most 2005s, Rostaing's 2005 Cote Rotie Cote Blonde is still backwards and tight, with bright acidity giving lift to classic notes of dark fruits, iron, violets, and minerality. Much more reserved and focused than the '06, yet with superb mid-palate depth, awesome purity of fruit and no shortage of tannin, it needs another 3-4 years in the cellar and should be very long-lived.

Author: Jeb Dunnuck