Côte Rôtie Côte Blonde, Domaine René Rostaing 2006

The 2006 Cote Rotie Cote Blonde (which includes 3% Viognier) is superb. An intoxicating perfume of lavender, violets, sweet cherry jam, licorice, frying lard, and abundant berry fruit is followed by a velvety-textured, opulent, long, rich, seamlessly constructed wine. This hedonistic and intellectually pleasing offering should be consumed over the next 10-15 years.

Soft, with an exceptionally sublime set of aromatics, the dark plum-colored 2006 Cote Rotie Cote Blonde reveals violets, lavender, sweet cherry, mulberry, and licorice, a beautifully spicy, medium to full-bodied, opulent attack, and a superb finish, with crisp acidity and moderate tannin. This wine should come forward more quickly than the La Landonne but last just as long.