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1998 Saint-Cosme Côte-Rôtie - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie (6/12/2009)
nose: very pungent nose filled with raspberries, charcoal, smoke, bacon fat, violets, thyme, olives, and some tart red cherries with a bit of red fruit. Great depth, and it just strikes you right off the bat with its excellent fruits and then gives way to the other tones
taste: good tannins with a real nice medium/full feel. Loads of raspberries, bacon fat, smoke, violets, olives, and some bits of cherry pits. there is some real power behind this with great layering
overall: still youthful, but definitely drinking. Great dark fruits with a classic cote-rotie background behind it. This can certainly go a long way and will provide a lot of intrigue each step of the way (93 pts.)
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2006 E. Guigal St. Joseph Lieu-Dit St. Joseph Rouge - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph (6/12/2009)
nose: good depth on the nose, but somewhat conflicted at teh same time as there is a ripe quality to it with red fruits, dark red cherries, and blackberries but it brings it back a bit with more northern rhonish tones of bacon fat, bits of smoke and some charcoal tones. if this was blind, I’d more assume it was a cool climate cali syrah as it comes across like a pax at first, but certainly goes more into northern rhone qualities after some extra time in the glass
taste: good medium+ tannins and an excellent full bodied feel. Rich and well balanced tones of blackberries, dark cherries, charcoal, bacon fat and dark red fruits all work well together with a bit of ripeness on the fruit tones
overall: very tasty and outstanding right now. Will certainly change with time, this is the kind of northern rhone that would be great right now for those just getting into the region. What’s more, this certainly will age, and should take on more classic characteristics with time. Very expressive and dark, this certainly hits a real good spot with a great lengthy blackberry finish. This had been decanted for about 3 1/2 hours before drinking (92 pts.)
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