Julien looks into the key features of one of the most famous wines in the Rhone Valley of France: Côte Rôtie
E. Guigal Hermitage wine review by :
Drone shots of the beautiful Rhone Valley by Franlac Channel as featured in this video:
Wine Tourism in the Rhône & Wine School in Avignon:
Chapoutier Hermitage Rhone Wines:
Video content & script:
Côte Rôtie is yes, absolutely one of the most prestigious red-wine appellations in France, and wine area located in the northern part of the Rhône Valley wine region.
Syrah is the king red grape as over the whole of the Côte Rôtie is the only Rhone red grape that is planted.
Côte Rôtie wines can sometimes de made with the addition of the iconic white grape called Viognier that can represent up to 20% of the blends. Viognier brings in finesse, acidity and a distinctive floral character to the spicy and powerful Syrah.
Côte Rôtie as an area is characterized by very step slopes overlooking the Rhone river. The steep hillsides reach heights of around 1150ft or 330m. This unique position next to the Rhone river helps with the ripening of the grapes through light reflection on the river waters.
Fun fact, Côte Rôtie translates into roasted slope in French, because of this physical phenomenon, but the river also allows to temper the intense heats of summer for more finesse and minerality.
The slopes of Côte Rôtie count with about 10 narrow ridges, the most famous of which have been named and give burst to the finest wines, illustrious names you often see alongside the Côte Rôtie name on wine labels, such as Côte Brune, Côte Blonde, La Mouline, La Landonne or La Turque.
There are two slightly different acknowledged wine styles in Côte Rôtie, represented 1 by the Cote Blonde terroirs (understand the blond slope), with a yellow sandy soil giving more opulent and generous expressions of Syrah, often mellowed by a little Viognier, while the Cote Brune (understand the brown slope) has an irony soil that delivers more tannic and sharper wines that require longer cellaring to reach their full potential.
Producer and winery E. Guigal is credited for having brought the Cote Rotie wine back to the attention of all wine lovers around the world. Guigal make some of the best Cote Rotie wines, I will actually be reviewing Cote Rotie wines on this channel very soon so make sure to stay tuned to learn more.
Cote Rotie wines are always made in very small quantities due to the difficult terrain and limited vineyard surfaces. They are rather rare and very demanded and therefore rather expensive, starting around $60-$70 and up to around $400 for the best examples in recent vintages, more for older wines.
The good Cote rotie wines must be cellared at least for 10 years before drinking, and can better with time for at least 20 to years.
I hope this video was useful, if it was, give it a quick thumb up before you do to support my work, and I will see you soon in the wonderful world of wine.
Santé. Au revoir! Cheers…
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