TN: 2017 Marie et Pierre Bénetière Côte-Rôtie Cordeloux

[c fu]

• 2017 Marie et Pierre Bénetière Côte-Rôtie Cordeloux - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie (12/28/2020)
  I think we all know the 2015 Benetiere story and the highly variable bottles. Then the long delay in the 2016 release which ultimately ended up with none of it being imported. Rumors abound on why the 2015 and 2016 weren't labeled as cote rotie. Add in the 2014 Cordeloux that wasn't bottled (2014 Dolium was bottled and is fantastic), the public trust in Benetiere is justifiably at an all time low.
  
  The main importer for Benetiere, Robert Panzer at Down to Earth Wines, knows my love for all things Benetiere so he sent over a bottle of the 2017 Cote Rotie Cordeloux (yes! Cote rotie! not vdp!) for me to give my honest assessment of prior to release. Consider these notes a running diary on the wine - Tasted on pop and pour - the first hour - then 7 hours later. I packed away 4 4oz boston rounds for later tasting in the fridge. Consumed 8oz of the wine over the time period.
  
  2017 Benetiere Cote Rotie Cordeloux - THE NOSE IS INSANE. IN-FREAKING-SANE. One of the most compelling parts of Benetiere is how fragrant the nose is. The 2012 (one of my favorite young cote rotie) is similar to the 2017 on the nose - the nose is a volcanic eruption of aggressive violet, spice, tapenade and bright blue fruit. With air, you get the savoriness of cote rotie building to match the floral spice box. For the first 30 minutes, i was taking the tinest sips as I kept swirling the glass and obsessing over that nose.
  
  The palate is elegant weighing in at a mild 12.5% alcohol. The wine pulses from its vibrant core of cool acidity, the wine has depth and persistent sweet berry fruit on the mid palate deep into the finish. The mid palate shows a real clean purity of fruit. A flurry of cracked black pepper and roast meat linger on the finish. It's pretty crazy how much intensity the wine carries on its lithe frame. With air that finish gets broader and burlier- the fruit gets more concentrated and the tannin gets a jagged edge. There is a reductive element initially on the finish but it minimizes with air. I'm guessing a little more time in bottle will remove the reductive element.

Picture of the sample bottle - label is not the finished label - just for sample bottle purposes.

[DanielP]

Do you know more about the story with the 2016s? I don't really understand why a release delay wouldn't just mean an importation delay rather than nothing getting imported at all.

[c fu]

Do you know more about the story with the 2016s? I don't really understand why a release delay wouldn't just mean an importation delay rather than nothing getting imported at all.

I'm sure Robert can speak to his decision on not bringing it in, but I don't know why the Source didn't. I don't think Polaner is importing Benetiere anymore period.

[Robert M yers]

Can I exchange my bottles of 15 for 17? I am glad to hear that they sound back on track, but seriously not sure whether I jump back in after that thousand dollar 2015 fiasco.

[c fu]

Can I exchange my bottles of 15 for 17? I am glad to hear that they sound back on track, but seriously not sure whether I jump back in after that thousand dollar 2015 fiasco.

i thought you didn't have issues with the 15s when you opened yours? (i'm re-reading the 2015 thread). I know Alfert enjoyed his.

[Alan Rath]

Cool note, looking forward to the follow up. One question: can a flurry linger? John Morris will want to know

[c fu]

Cool note, looking forward to the follow up. One question: can a flurry linger? John Morris will want to know

I don't know and I don't care.

[Robert M yers]

Hmmm, I remember the wine being just ok, not flawed just lackluster...muted? Maybe my mind is tainted from the discussion? Even if the wine is sound I kind of feel (maybe I shouldn’t) like what’s in the bottle may not be what was intended. Hard to know as I don’t think we ever got the final story. I’ll have a re-read of that discussion as well.
Thanks for the early look.

[Torbjørn Dahlgren]

Thanks for your update! Now begins the quest to get some bottles...

[C. Keller]

Any idea when this hits the US market?

[c fu]

Any idea when this hits the US market?

Panzer told me sale will be next month some time, but won't hit the market until post tariffs most likely. Not sure about any other importer

[RyanC]

Thanks for the update - very helpful post. I'm almost certainly a buyer, but I would like to hear more about what happened with the '16s and if there's any more color on the '15.

[Charlie Carnes]

Charlie, love your extended note. I might have to seek a few out when they drop!!

[Warren Taranow]

Charlie,
I just dipped my toes into the 15's, not wanting to risk it. I'll sample a few 2017's based on your TN; I had intended to skip them. Hopefully Robert waits to list them until I end my spending moratorium.
I also haven't bought Chidaine since the 2014 fiasco left me holding way more than I'd like, but that's another (controversial) thread.
Cheers,
Warren

[c fu]

Charlie,
I just dipped my toes into the 15's, not wanting to risk it. I'll sample a few 2017's based on your TN; I had intended to skip them. Hopefully Robert waits to list them until I end my spending moratorium.
I also haven't bought Chidaine since the 2014 fiasco left me holding way more than I'd like, but that's another (controversial) thread.
Cheers,
Warren

yeah. I tasted some of the guys on it yesterday and they had the same response that they were warry after 2015 but in general they were very non plus about 2015 Northern Rhone. Hopefully they'll chime in on their thoughts on the wine.

[ybarselah]

omg this will be epic. thanks for the updates charlie.

[Faryan Amir-Ghassem¡]

Yes!

[Daniel McIntosh]

I bought 3 of the 2015. Opened one maybe a year ago. I would have waited but all the fuss around it compelled me to give it a try. Absolutely no issues with it. It was very fine. I

[Peter Kleban]

Yes, I have two '15s downstairs but given all the TNs indicating they are OK but too young, I intend to wait some time until I open one.

[ybarselah]

not sure this matters at this point given what clearly happened in the interim, but JLL rated the 2015, 2016, and 2017 all very highly in a march of 2018 tasting (wrote that the 2016 would be bottled in April 2018 which I guess never happened?). not notes on 2018 or 2019 - yet.

unsure if anyone else writes about these professionally.

[D@vid Bu3ker]

not sure this matters at this point given what clearly happened in the interim, but JLL rated the 2015, 2016, and 2017 all very highly in a march of 2018 tasting (wrote that the 2016 would be bottled in April 2016 which I guess never happened?). not notes on 2018 or 2019 - yet.

unsure if anyone else writes about these professionally.

The 2016 bottled in April 2016???

[Greg K]

Yes!

We may have to do another dinner to check in on the current Benetiere vitnage.......

[Faryan Amir-Ghassem¡]

Yes!

We may have to do another dinner to check in on the current Benetiere vitnage.......

Might?

[D@ve D y r 0 f f]

not sure this matters at this point given what clearly happened in the interim, but JLL rated the 2015, 2016, and 2017 all very highly in a march of 2018 tasting (wrote that the 2016 would be bottled in April 2016 which I guess never happened?). not notes on 2018 or 2019 - yet.

unsure if anyone else writes about these professionally.

The 2016 bottled in April 2016???

To be bottled April 2018, per the March 2018 JLL note.

[ybarselah]

not sure this matters at this point given what clearly happened in the interim, but JLL rated the 2015, 2016, and 2017 all very highly in a march of 2018 tasting (wrote that the 2016 would be bottled in April 2016 which I guess never happened?). not notes on 2018 or 2019 - yet.

unsure if anyone else writes about these professionally.

The 2016 bottled in April 2016???

ha - edited thanks for catching. point is, no updates and lies about paperwork is the last update we have.

[D@vid Bu3ker]

not sure this matters at this point given what clearly happened in the interim, but JLL rated the 2015, 2016, and 2017 all very highly in a march of 2018 tasting (wrote that the 2016 would be bottled in April 2016 which I guess never happened?). not notes on 2018 or 2019 - yet.

unsure if anyone else writes about these professionally.

The 2016 bottled in April 2016???

ha - edited thanks for catching. point is, no updates and lies about paperwork is the last update we have.

Yes, but the 2015 is quite good, if young. I would suspect the 2016 could have turned out OK, but maybe something happened.

I'm no longer a buyer, as I just don't like (any) Cote Rotie as much as other wines, but to go back to retreading the prior thread is pointless.

[ybarselah]

well, i like cote-rotie a lot, so i'm still interested lol. these two sentences did standout:

I think we all know the 2015 Benetiere story and the highly variable bottles. Then the long delay in the 2016 release which ultimately ended up with none of it being imported.

the acknowledgment or at least mention of "highly variable bottles" seems like a big deal. the long delay of the 2016 also interesting as there's no evidence that it even exists. are there listings for it in France or UK? when I asked The Source, they said they hadn't purchased it yet. given the review from JLL and the vintage generally being excellent, it's odd that a "long delay" in releasing the wine should result in it not being imported into the USA. if the wine exists, i'd imagine they'd want to sell it.

[J. Galang]

Got the email form Robert Panzer regarding 2017 last 01/07, replied within less than 30 minutes but have not heard back at all. Usually Robert responds very quickly, maybe too many people ordered at the same time?

[Robert M yers]

Got the email form Robert Panzer regarding 2017 last 01/07, replied within less than 30 minutes but have not heard back at all. Usually Robert responds very quickly, maybe too many people ordered at the same time?

He doesn’t sell based on response time like Envoyer and others. Usually when there are allocated items involved (Dolium) you won’t Hear back until the end of the ordering window. I think he allows all the orders to come in and then parcels the limited stuff up as best as possible. I haven’t heard back yet either and won’t expect to for a couple more days I’d imagine.

[Dennis Borczon]

I just drank the 15 that I got from Rob out of curiosity. It clearly is not the explosive style description of the 17. However it is quite young and there is a lot of structure with iron and more savory notes in the background. I coravined it down to 1/3 of a bottle and plan to pull the cork this week to finish. Found it quite satisfactory and needing time, no obvious flaws or deteriorating fruit, just comes across as muted. Will give the last 1/3 some decant time and re evaluate. Judgment deferred. I did put in a modest order with Rob for the 17s, purely based on his trustworthiness as a vendor.

[c fu]

well, i like cote-rotie a lot, so i'm still interested lol. these two sentences did standout:

I think we all know the 2015 Benetiere story and the highly variable bottles. Then the long delay in the 2016 release which ultimately ended up with none of it being imported.

the acknowledgment or at least mention of "highly variable bottles" seems like a big deal. the long delay of the 2016 also interesting as there's no evidence that it even exists. are there listings for it in France or UK? when I asked The Source, they said they hadn't purchased it yet. given the review from JLL and the vintage generally being excellent, it's odd that a "long delay" in releasing the wine should result in it not being imported into the USA. if the wine exists, i'd imagine they'd want to sell it.

I'm giving people the benefit of the doubt that they had bad bottles. I personally haven't experienced it and many others haven't, but i'm not going to dismiss the fact that Polaner didn't like the wine they had. My bottles from Panzer had no problems.

[Alan Rath]

What’s the total production? Does he blend everything before bottling, or bottle in lots? As I pointed out a while back in my slow-ox thread, just dumping a bunch of barrels into a tank, without plenty of active stirring, won’t give you a homogeneous wine.