Cote Rote remains one of the hottest collectable and age worthy wines in the Northern Rhone along with select Hermitage and Cornas and no one crafts more precise fine wines in Cote Rotie than Rene Rostaing. Rene owns some of the most prestigious parcels of Cote Rotie namely in the Cote Blonde and in La Landonne. But it was his exceptionally good fortune to inherit 4 prime hectares from his father-in-law Albert Dervieux and then subsequently another 1.4 hectares of old vine Cote Rotie from is uncle Marius Gentaz bringing his total holdings up to 7.4 hectares that has made for a thoroughly captivating vignerons tale.

Of all the wines Rene Rostaing has produced in the past few decades, there are few more famous and sought after than his 1991 La Landonne Cote Rotie. This wine holds legendary status and is regarded with the highest esteem by Northern Rhone collectors. I recently got to drink a well cellared bottle at the Noble Rot Wine Bar with winemaker Romaric Chavy of Domaine Chavey-Choue in Burgundy and writer / restauranteur Dan Keeling. A rare treat indeed!

“In 1991 he produced four cuvees. Perhaps the best of these 1991s is the 1991 Cote Rotie La Landonne. As you might anticipate, there is considerable rivalry between Rene Rostaing and his neighbour, Guigal. Rostaing is quick to assert that his La Landonne vines are considerably older than those of Guigal” … wrote Robert Parker Jr. in December 1992.

Rene Rostaing Cote Rotie La Landonne 1991

Brilliantly bright ruby red, a superb bottle drunk at Noble Rot wine bar, liberated from a private client’s cellar after being bought on release. Tantalisingly complex and exotic, there are wonderful aromatic layers of black berry, black cherry, pepper corns, savoury cured meats and smokey graphite. So seamless, integrated, it’s hard to deconstruct the wine. Just a really profound melange of savoury, spicy, black fruited perfection. Beautifully dense, full bodied, suave and concentrated, the flavours and fruits are so vital and mineral laced yet also so amazingly youthful with tannins that are sweet, powdery but nicely resolved from bottle age. A really sensational, profound bottle of Northern Rhone. They don’t come much better than this. Drink now and over the next 10+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)