In the last couple months, I’ve had the 1998, 1999, and 2001 Ogier Cote-Rotie. The 1998 and 1999 were both in good places without much air – the 1998 in particular had great aromatics. The 2001 I opened last night took a lot of coaxing to show much. It’s cork was startlingly pristine – one of the guests commented “must be a fake.”
But there are all wines I’ve had since release. In fact, all were purchased at the domaine and brought over in the same shipment by Adventures In Wine, so their provenance has all been exactly the same since they left the Ogier’s cellar.
Which makes me curious: how are other 2001 Cote Rotie bottlings drinking? Anybody had one recently?
FWIW, my bottles of the regular have been singing for about 5 years. I may have finished them all now since they were as good as I expected them to be. The Lancement has never opened back up for me (post tasting at Chex Ogier and the Marche aux Vins) so maybe it will someday or never. Hard to say.
My friends thought the 2001 Jamet was an empty wine on release. I thought and still think it was clearly closed, and outstanding . If there’s any left in the bottle put it on your counter for two or three days, give the bottle a light shake, then see.
I had a 2001 St Cosme C-R some months ago; it was pretty disappointing. I thought the vintage was on the lean side by reputation? I only bottle a little of the 99 and 03’s No Rho during that era.
Hi John, been a long time. Sounds like maybe I should try another bottle of the 2001, and see if it’s different. Though I do have a number of 98s + 99s that I’m confident are drinking well, so I may as well keep drinking those.
The vintage was not on the lean side to my memory. I did taste a lot of them when young at the Marche, and bought a fair number based on what I found. I didn’t find them lean, but I also wasn’t looking for ooze monsters.
Parker may well have found them lean, and he was still a market mover for the wines at that point, I think. But I could be completely off base here – I really have no idea what he said about them.
Interesting! I’ve had '95, '98, '99 and '01 Ogier in the last 6-12 months, and the latter was by far the best drinking now and relatively open. The '95 was disappointing and thin, the '98 a bit odd, the '99 still closed and big. I do like to open these at cellar temperature (i.e. pretty cool 13 C) so that might make a difference. The '01 was the only one I wanted to go back to and have another bottle soon. I haven’t had any other '01 CRs recently so can’t comment, but would say the vintage overall was initially “really good” in the Northern Rhone but has perhaps disappointed a bit since.
I remember the '01 vintage pretty well as I think Lee and I were at the Marche when those were sold/tasted? They were not fleshy wines at all, not what I would term lean but I can see how one that really wants fruit driven wines would use that term. Somewhere in between I guess. I have had pretty good luck but by no means a great vintage. I recall I bought a decent slug of Ogier CR, Faurie Hermitage, and Tunnel Cornas. I recall not being a fan of the Gallet and Jamet and did not buy. I think I am not sure if I bough any Jasmin but think so. They were just Ok for quite a while and then the 2001 Ogier really started to sing so I started to slurp the up. The Faurie and Tunnel Cornas never really closed up and while the latter never aged that well for me, the Faurie Hermitages I got in France are real winners.
I think I still have 3-4 bottles each of the '01 Ogier, Jamet and Guigal Ampuis. The last I tried was the Ogier, about 3-4 weeks ago, and it was on the lean side, extremely acidic/tart and in need of food. Despite being a bit out of balance, with food it was quite solid, just not an exceptional example. We drank it along with the '99 Chave Hermitage, which was much softer and prettier.
I’m following this thread with interest, although I only have a couple of the 2001 Faurie Hermitage (thanks for the mention and impression).
To add, in June last year we had good-drinking 2001 Ogier CR and Ogier Les Embruns during one of our local Northern Rhone get-together, among mid-late 90s Chave, Allemand, Texier, Jamet, Levet.
Fwiw, we’re doing a bunch of 2004s Northern Rhone with dinner this evening to check on where they are at 15 y-o.
I bought 6 of the Ogier after release. Have 2 left. Very underwhelming wine to me. Lots of structure, no charm. If there will not emerge a wonder in the coming years this was a waste of money. Unfortunately.
Another data point.
2001Texier Cote-Rotie VV. February 2019 note:
“This bottle had a glass sampled by Coravin in December 2013 (too young then). I didn’t open a pristine bottle for comparison but this was certainly not oxidized. As past bottles, lots of acid though not screechy, moderate tannic structure remains (decanted for about 4 hrs). Olives on the nose, some meat, and this wine has never been about fruit. A good companion to a pan grilled steak with roasted vegetables.”
The 1999 has been drinking well for the past couple of years.