Hi Jeff,
I think both '91 and '99 are great Cote Rotie vintages, and I’m happy that I don’t have to rank them. I agree that '99 is richer, but I’m not sure that makes it better, maybe the wines will become as “pretty” as the '91s, maybe not. I’m not sure what you mean by fresher and cleaner…?
BTW, I have rarely bought Cote Rorie in the secondary market, and have had decidedly mixed results when I did. All the bottles I’ve commented on in this thread were bought upon release. I did pick up a few bottles of Jamet '85 and '88 after my original purchases were gone. Bought one x '85, was DOA. Bought 2 x '88, one was DOA, one was stellar.
Well, as far as I´m concerned:
the summer was slightly cooler in Hermitage - so the grapes were slightly behind those in Cote-Rotie reg. ripeness … usually no problem …
… but when 1-2 days of heavy rain came end of september all started to harvest since more rain was announced for 1st week of october … the sugar was higher in Cote-Rotie … AND the initially quite high tannins in the Syrah were nicely buffed by the ripe Viognier in most cuvées …
(while there is no Viognier in Hermitage … and almost no white grapes mixed into reds) …
I think these might be some of the reasons … and of course the different terroir fitted differently to the vintage conditions …