TN: 2019 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie Cuvée Classique Ampodium

WINE TALK
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  • 2019 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie Cuvée Classique Ampodium - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie (5/21/2023)
    Decanted 6 hrs. What a most excellent and very appealing Cote Rotie. My first Rostaing and it sure didn’t disappoint. While clearly from a warm solar vintage, there was some real N. Rhone character here, surprisingly so. Violets and subtle pepper notes are more pronounced in the early going, and then money shot hits mid palate with a most agreeable medley of dark berries, grilled meats and the tell tale notes of blood or a saline trait. A closing note of musk and lingering soil closes nicely. This is really drinking well for such a young wine. Comparing this to say the 19 Xavier Gerard regular CR, this is easily a step or two ahead of that wine (which I enjoyed) and at wine buying heist when this was on sale at WHC for $49.99 last summer. 93 is very conservative - tons of upside. (93 points)

Posted from CellarTracker

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Definitely a nice wine. Surprised my stash of 15s on winebid haven’t seen much action.

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I haven’t had the '19 but in general I really like this Cote-Rotie. For some reason the market at large is not super keen on Rostaing.

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I think the ampodium offers a lot of value for the price.

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I opened a bottle of the '11 a few months ago with low expectations, but it delivered real CR character.

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  • 2019 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie Cuvée Classique Ampodium - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie (4/5/2025)
    Decanted 3hrs. While the technical merits of the 19 Ampodium may define this as a good to very good wine, I’d like to push that aside and just say I enjoyed the an absolute hell out of this N. Rhône charmer. Waves upon waves of flowers created a vivid picture of a large Valentines Day flower bouquet, just loved the nose. Like many of the better 19 and 20’s, Rostaing seems to have captured a forward, playful wine that is never ponderous or evokes the dreaded ‘s’ word aka solar. It seems some good stuff is brewing to provide some classic CR traits down the road. Fine, but adored this bottle today.

Posted from CellarTracker

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I think Rostaing has moved still a step upwards since 2015 when son Pierre took over.
Ampodium (Latin for Ampuis) is the basic CR.
There are La Landonne, Cote Blonde and Cote Brune (old Gentaz vineyard) above - and a La Viaillere in some vintages.

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Northern Rhônes in general seem like they are out of fashion and sort of underpriced compared to other top regions. Chave Hermitage is half the price of a Bordeaux first growth, and something like Jamet Cote Rotie costs the same as a mid level Burgundy CdN premier cru

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Which is a shame! I think some of the top N. Rhone reds give burgundy run for its money.

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Thanks Paul, not a lot of Rostaing experience - well just two bottles of this wine so far (and 4 to cellar). I do have 3 x of the 12 Cote Blonde in which I have taken the rule of 15 to heart and should look to open my first in the next couple of years.

Re pricing: This wine set me back $55 which ain’t nuthin, but a silly price for a wine of this caliber. $100 can purchase you a pretty serious Cornas or CR - go to $150 and its cream of the crop.

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