Cote-Rotie 2020 94VM / ****JLL
Domaine Graeme & Julie Bott

94 pts Vinous
Glistening ruby. Spice- and mineral-accented cherry and black raspberry scents are complemented by suggestions of pipe tobacco, violet, smoky bacon and exotic spices. Densely packed and subtly chewy in texture, offering appealingly sweet, spice-tinged red and dark berry and floral pastille flavors that are supported by an undercurrent of juicy acidity. The mineral note returns on a very long, penetrating finish that features polished tannins and resonating florality. - By Josh Raynolds on December 2022
**** JLL
full red; the nose is channelled, direct, is very iron and smoke filled, comes with blue fruit, is an aroma from straight off the rock face. The palate is tight, very ferrous, has a cool intensity, the tannins well within. There's much to come. It's well sealed, will gradually unfurl, is a good granite rock wine, has a lead pencil firmness. Allow it time - from 2025-26. “2020 is the best we’ve made – I’d take another 2020 any day,” Graeme Bott. 

% of Alcohol: 13.5%
Vineyard:100% Syrah, 40-year-old vines in granite and schist soils
Winemaking: 75-85% destemmed, 3-4 day cool crop maceration and steel tank ferment, wild yeasts
Aging: 20 months in French oak barrels, aged 10-15% new, 85-90% 1-6 year 228-litre & 400-litre oak casks
Aging potential: 15-20 years