TN: Marie et Pierre Benetiere 2006 Côte-Rôtie Cordeloux

The Gentaz thread put me in the mood for some old-style Côte-Rôtie. Sadly I don’t own any Gentaz, but this scratched the itch. Opens with aromatics so busy it practically feels kinetic, combining sizzling bacon and cracked black peppercorns in about as classic a Northern Rhône fashion as you could possibly get, the peppery aspect taking over the longer it sits in the glass. It’s on the palate where it really distinguishes itself from most Rhône fare these days. Listed at 12.5% alcohol, the flavors are firmly on the red-fruited side of the spectrum, it’s got a high-tension-wire acidic spine, and in terms of fruit weight it is essentially the polar opposite of inky. It’s tough to describe the sensation in a way that doesn’t sound pejorative: is it sparse? You could say that, but only in this sense: it’s like you took a rich, powerful syrah, flattened it on a board with a rolling pin like a Fruit Roll-Up, and stretched it so thin and taut you could see through it. It has all the stuffing but it’s tensile and transparent instead of a heavy monochrome. Goes without saying that this is a seriously structured wine with enormous upside. Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone brings this wine into the US. I would think importers would be tripping over each other trying to capture a producer with bona fide cult superstar potential, as they seem to have acquired a devoted fan base on the other side of the ocean from pure word of mouth.

Benetiere has a US importer…moi.

Congratulations on importing Benetiere.
I’ve tasted the 2004 and 2005 versions while traveling and was impressed.
Assuming that you are in the States, then I’m looking forward to being able to buy locally.

this makes it sound like Jasmin. I’ve never had Benetierre, but have had tons of Jasmin. Apt comparison?

Polaner has been importing these wines for the last couple of vintages.

I’ve never gotten bacon fat from Jasmin. Pretty violet aromatics but no bacon fat.

Keith, great tasting note, my mouth is salivating. Robert, looks like you have a new customer!

This is an old thread so I believe I scooped Polaner, but it’s certainly a good thing if these will see wider distribution. Can’t say I see any style similarity with Jasmin but it’s worth picking up a bottle to judge for oneself!

I met with Benetiere two weeks ago and tasted the in bottle '11 Cordeloux, '11 Condrieu, and '10 Dolium. Man oh man are they pretty wines…the '11s aren’t the most “serious” of wines, but they are pure, elegant, and downright tastay!! The '10 and '11 Dolium are pretty damn serious on the other hand
The '12s also had me oohing and aahing. Good things lay ahead…
Cheers.

Update… Can’t believe it’s been 11 years since my original bottle of this and that it is now in official Rule of 15 compliance. Tonight it reminded me of everything that jazzed me the first time around and in fact it barely even tastes any older, just more focused. The aromatics start doing their snap-crackle-pop from the pull of the cork and the first sip is an umami bomb like biting into the flesh of a juicy olive. Then it segues to crunchy red fruit and singed, smoking rosemary sprigs on the back end you can still taste minutes later. All my original comments about the transparency and taut, tensile feel of this still apply, ditto those about the weight class. Most of the Cote-Rotie I drink is Levet and even relative to Levet the sensation this gives of the Cote-Rotie appellation being skyhooked out of the Rhone and transplanted to some cooler-climate latitude is surreal, like no other Rhone I can think of. I preferred this, incidentally, to a recent '09, which had an unfortunate poopy streak. This vintage is clean as a whistle and showing everything it’s supposed to with crystal clarity.

Great update Keith.

Yes, thanks for both the initial note and the update, Keith–lots of fun to see your perceptions 11 years on.

Had my first, a 2015, a couple weeks ago:

"2015 Benetiere Cordeloux

I brought this, hadn’t had one before. I quite liked this, almost like gentler Cornas. Mostly red fruit presentation, there was a slightly dried nuance to the flavours. Some herbs and touches of bacon/meats. It was rather elegant and didn’t in any way take over the mouth. I could get used to this sort of thing."

Zing, with the first Benetiere post on our site!

Nicely done. Sadly, I didn’t find this wine until the 09 vintage.