2009 Delas Frères Côte-Rôtie La Landonne

Another killer Cote Rotie is the 2009 Cote Rotie la Landonne and it's a bigger, rich, more opulent version of the 2010. Raspberries, chocolate, exotic flowers, violets and ample minerality all give way to a full-bodied, seamless, layered 2009 that has massive mid-palate depth and a monster finish. Raised all in new oak, it should be drinkable at an earlier age than the '10, yet have a similar evolution.

Dark purple. High-pitched and expansive red and dark berries and flowers on the nose, with an intense mineral quality and a strong hint of Asian spices. Smells like a very high-end Burgundy. Seductively sweet red fruit preserve flavors reach every corner of the palate and become spicier and livelier with air. A strikingly pure, perfumed Cote-Rotie that finishes with excellent clarity and a lingering floral quality.

Opaque purple. An explosive, heady bouquet evokes red and dark berry preserves, incense, Asian spices and potpourri; you could scent a room with this stuff. Palate-staining raspberry and blueberry flavors are lifted by zesty mineral and spice notes and show outstanding vivacity and focus. Pure, energetic and sweet on the finish, which refuses to let up. Grange told me that the reason Delas doesn't make this wine every year--as in 2008, for example--"is because we want it to be a truly great expression of Cote-Rotie or not to exist at all. If it isn't superb, it doesn't get bottled, period." (JR)