2016 Stéphane Ogier Côte-Rôtie La Viallière
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Tasting notes
It\'s a bouquet of red, white, and purple flowers backed up by all its layers of supple, silky, opulent red and black fruits. The berries are ripe, sweet, fresh, and display a gorgeous sense of purity, smoky accents, length and complexity. This is going to age and evolve for 2-3 decades without any trouble,
Critic scores
James Suckling
Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider
More reviews and scores
Bright purple. A highly perfumed, complex bouquet displays mineral-driven dark berry, potpourri, exotic spice and incense qualities, and a smoky bacon nuance emerges as the wine opens up. Fleshy and expansive on the palate, offering penetrating, smoke-accented boysenberry, candied licorice, spicecake and candied violet flavors supported by a core of juicy acidity. Smoothly blends richness and delicacy and finishes strikingly long and youthfully tannic, leaving floral pastille and allspice notes behind.
Lastly, the 2016 Côte Rôtie La Vialliere comes from a gem of a site located in the northern part of the appellation. It’s a balanced, complete Côte Rôtie that offers a complex bouquet (red and black fruits, spice, spring flowers, and game), medium to full body, terrific purity of fruit, and a seamless, elegant texture that just glides across the palate. It needs 2-4 years of bottle age but will keep for two decades.
Along with the other 2016s from Ogier, the 2016 Cote Rotie La Vialliere boasts gorgeous aromas of roses, tea leaves and raspberries. It's full-bodied, plush and velvety on the palate, with a long, cranberry-ish finish that shows great freshness and energy. This offering is attractive now, but I expect it will age gracefully for at least 15 years.