2015 Cote Rotie Neve

Brilliant purple. Seductive, mineral-accented aromas of boysenberry, cherry cola, violet pastille and Moroccan spices show excellent delineation and lift. Black and blue fruit liqueur and spicecake stain the palate, while a subtle vanilla accent and building spiciness add complexity. Plays depth off finesse with a sure hand and shows no excess fat. Closes with impressively persistent floral and spice notes, silky tannins and strong, mineral-driven persistence.

As with the 2016, the 2015 Côte Rôtie Neve is a new cuvée that’s from a tiny parcel in the northern part of the appellation comprised of pure micro-schist soils and a southeast/south exposure. It offers more black and blue fruits, violets, and mineral aromas, full-bodied richness, ultra-fine tannin, incredible balance and a seamless, silky style. It's undeniably more nuanced and elegant than the Mordorée, and has a unique, straight, elegant style all its own. Enough can’t be said about the quality coming from the estate of Michel Chapoutier. Taking over the domaine from his father in the late 1980s (his first vintage was 1989), Michel quickly moved the estate completely to bio-dynamic farming as well as building a new, state of the art winery located just outside of Tain l’Hermitage. These are classic, traditionally made wines that are never acidified (or chaptalized), are brought up mostly in demi-muids (with plenty of used oak), and bottled unfined and unfiltered. He also continues to grow the brand (this is easily one of the largest tastings I do every year from a single producer) and has added two new Côte Rôties in 2015, the Quatrain and Neve cuvees. The Quatrain is reserved for grapes that didn’t make it into the selection parcellaire releases, and the Neve comes from a single parcel in the northern part of the appellation. Both are impressive wines, although I don’t envy anyone trying to explain the full portfolio to buyers in the market. In addition, while it’s easy to focus on the top cuvées from this estate, the portfolio is packed with incredible values at just about every price point. These reviews focus on the 2015 and 2016 vintages, with all the 2015s tasted out of bottle and the majority of the 2016s still resting in barrel. The 2015 vintage is a monumental one for this estate and matches (and in a few cases, eclipses) what was accomplished in 2009 and 2010. These are ripe, concentrated, structured wines that are going to demand cellar time. In contrast, the 2016s are more elegant and silky, with terrific purity of fruit. They don’t have the sheer grandeur of fruit found in the 2015s, yet are seriously concentrated and have no shortage of tannins and structure.

In the debut vintage for this bottling, the 2015 Cote Rotie Neve makes a huge splash. It has that unique Côte Rôtie trait of being full-bodied and authoritatively flavorful while also being light on its feet and seemingly weightless. Pervasive mocha and raspberry notes start strong, persist through the creamy-textured mid-palate and linger on the lush, layered finish.