The Ultimate Collector Cote Roties: Made for the Greek from the Best Terroir in the Rhone, Incredible, Classic, Refined 2013 Vintage Direct From The Cellar.
There Is the Greek Liking You …
…And There Is the Greek Offering You the Big Boy Cote Rotie With Age
After 6 Years, I Finally Made the Grade
Two CLASSIC, Ageworthy Cote Roties
2013 Compagnie l’Hermitage Côte Rotie “La Brocarde”
– VERY Old Vines
– The Best Parcel in La Brocarde
– Nose: Intoxicating
– An Amalgem of Aromatics
– Indescribably Floral
– Lilacs, Violets
– Leather
– Berries, Cassis
– Chocolate, Cured Meats
– Palate: Top Level Complexity
– Sweet Intense Blackberry Fruit
– Stunning Density
– So Sexy and Elegant
– 93-95+, 94-96 Points (Jeb Dunnuck, Joe Czerwinski (2016)
The Greek
I have written I don’t know how many times about the wine store in the small town of Tain l’ Hermitage, Compagnie l’Hermitage, which is run by Georges Lelektsoglou and his son Charlie Lelektsoglou. The store is a legendary place. George is the Pope of Tain l’Hermitage and the store is like his Vatican. People come to visit from all over the world and of course the Rhone. Oh who’s that over there? That’s Jeb Dunnuck. There’s Yann Chave. There’s Jean Louis Chave. There’s Henrik Möbitz. Everyone and anyone. It’s a pilgrimage.
As one can imagine George has many many connections over the years and he would be a fool not to use them. George is no fool and one thing he is uncompromising on is quality. If his store or his name is going to be on a bottle of wine, it better not only be damn good but the best of its category. George has a charming braggadocio about him but the thing is the man has delivered on all of this vinous braggadocio. The value wines like the Cairanne VV or the Visan are the best of their kind and over deliver. I have had countless emails about those wines from happy clients. His Crozes VV St. Gervans has to be the top 2-3 Crozes of the 2015 vintage. I sold for $40 and people are crying they did not buy more. Now as we go up the ladder the happy client to email response ratio gets more profound. You have to understand getting George’s high end wines is no easy task. He releases later than almost everyone and has an intense following in his store for these wines and he only makes a barrel of each. He makes much more of the cheaper ones. We sold the 2015 and 2016/2017/2018/2019/2020/2021 Chateaneuf du Pape Lieu Dit “Pignan” and it was around $90-ish and we sold a good amount even at that price. I’m not a CDP drinker but George said it was better than Rayas in 2015/2016/2017/2018/2019/2020 ans 2021. A few serious CDP drinkers amongst my clients said they were one of the top wines of the respective vintages especially compared to some of the prices on the other deluxe cuvee CDP’s. They were thrilled. I’ve got a few bottles tucked away for a blizzard.
Now that brings us to today’s offer. It is also from the “Lieu Dit” series that showcase the best terroir of the Rhone as expressed through George Lelektsoglou who always, and I mean always keeps his sources quiet. From where he got the vineyard from to where he raises the wine and who helps him raise it. He’s a massive influence and in order to pay him back in a way he has unique access to top winemakers and terroir and makes easily the best private label wines from a wine shop in the world. Let’s be honest private label wines for wine shops universally stink and not only has he transcended the category he has ascended to the top and remains and will remain alone. They only made one barrel of the 13 Brocarde and I had a small sampling of it at the store in January 2019. This is allocated and will age gloriously. I think it is open now and really needs only an hour before is starts drinking well. The 2012 Lieu Dit Brocarde for example is shockingly insane now. I drank the 2015 Rozier (no longer made) with Pierre Brisset in November 2018 and he was blown away. This is a world class best of class ageworthy Côte Rotiefrom a vintage where Côte Rotie is a top appellation. A perfect vintage.
The Wine
I’ve got the 2013 Compagnie l’Hermitage (Lelektsoglou) Côte Rotie Lieu Dit “La Brocarde” for $209.99 a bottle on a 2-Pack.
One thing must be mentioned about this wine how it is made and vinified. And of course how it is aged. The Brocarde uses the minimal amount of S02 without making the wine unstable. This gives it a purity you’ll likely only see in maybe Jean-Paul Stephan. The wine is not filtered and requires aging of 12 months minimum. Also everything is done by gravity. This wine is not bottled until 38 months of age which happens in June of 2016. Other Côte Roties are almost always aged much less. The 2010 for example required 37 months of aging, compared to the normal 18-24 month regime of most Côte Rotie and that extra aging costs money. It’s also bottled manually by gravity. Also dry materials like bottle, cork, label costs 4 times as more as the normal regimen. All of this adds up to a master of his craft who knows exactly what he is doing. I had a client who stopped by the shop and drank a lot of crazy wine while he was there and he said the 2012 and 2015/2016 La Brocarde from the Greek were the best wines he tasted the entire trip. By far.
La Brocarde is an amazing site and these are very old vines from the best parcel in George’s opinion. George knows his stuff and has tasted, walked these vineyards for decades. It is extraordinary and profound Côte Rotie of the highest degree but man does this wine need time. This is aged in one year old barrels. I always find Brocarde not to need like ridiculous time but 5-8 years always seems to do the trick. And the 13 is singing. The wine is like in 8D and the tannins are just some of the most amazing tannins I’ve tasted anywhere. Ever. There is a special quality to them. Maybe pearly? Or just so fine and refined they are like a master blend of velvet and silk, some new yet uninvented substance.
The nose is sick. So many deep intoxicating aromas don’t know where to begin. Mint, leather, amalgam of berries with so many flowers. My god this wine is floral. There is an engaging lilac/violet and even dandelion thing going on. It is just insane floral as Brocarde I always think is one of the most floral Côte Roties our there. It’s intoxicating. Smoke and cassis eventually with air. It’s just crazy.
The palate is even better. It’s incredible. Each sip is an experience and it has energy and freshness like nothing else. The refinement and freshness in all of the 2013 Côte Rotie is like nothing else. Just incredible. Because with the excellent classic levels of fruit one has loads energy and freshness which raises the complexity level. The inner mouth florals which are even more intense than normal. There is a ridiculous amount of sweet intense fruit. Loads of cassis. It is mindbogglingly juicy and complex. The classic velvety tannins of La Brocarde are very apparent. The purity is off the charts. And it is all so refined. When you combine this level of purity with this level of refinement it takes your breath away. The contrast that happens to make it a harmonious whole is something else. Big blackberry fruit that just explodes in your mouth. It’s so sweet and floral. Terrific long finish that is actually legitimately amazing. There is so much tiny berry fruit complexity and it saps down on the the finish. It’s masterpiece and a work of art. I don’t sell many wines at this price point but when I do they always deliver. Below is Jeb Dunnuck’s 93-95 pt review for the 2015. Personally I think this will be 97+ upon maturity. The wine has as much upside as Pete Alonso. Past vintages have been 95 (2010), 94+ (2012), 93 (2011)
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This is now one of the top wines in all of Côte Rotie. The 2016 was not reviewed by Jeb but the 2017 was and it got 93-95+. 2017 review is below. This also got 94-96 by Joe Czerwinski of the Wine Advocate. That is below Jeb’s 2017 review.
“The deeply colored 2017 Côte Rôtie La Brocarde comes from a site on the Côte Brune side of the appellation. It offers a ripe, sexy, powerful nose of black currants, licorice, cured meats, and chocolate. This carries to a polished, ripe, medium to full-bodied effort that’s perfectly balanced, has sweet tannins, and terrific mid-palate depth. It’s unquestionably a modern style Côte Rôtie that will benefit from short-term cellaring and keep for two decades.” – 93-95+ Jeb Dunnuck (2017)
“For me,” says proprietor Georges Lelektsoglou, “’16 is better [than ’15]. Côte Rôtie has to have lightness, like a pretty woman.” The 2016 Cote Rotie Lieu Dit La Brocarde possesses that elegance in spades, being rich and velvety while at the same feeling light and airy, with a long finish.” – 94-96 Pts, Joe Czerwinski, WA
Please call Cheryl at 949 378 5251 with your order if you are a first time customer (we prefer not to receive credit card numbers over E-Mail).
OFFICE HOURS 4-7 PM
I love drinking and selecting wines – but my passion for teaching people about wine is almost as big. I’m happy to announce a block of time each day where people can call me just to chat about wine in general. These blocks are NOT intended to sell wine (I do that all day). This is to talk to me about wine pairings or great producers or how long to age wines or styles of wine making or the latest wine controversy. My goal is to help people learn more about wine and enjoy it more. Call me at 917-912-4355 from 4-7EST Monday – Friday.
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