No Press, no Pundits, No Care
– Making Brilliant Wines for Decades
– A “Winemaker’s Winemaker”
– A Favorite of the Greek (Even Though We Buy Direct)
– Just Churns Out Amazing Wines Year After Year After Year
2021 Vintage
– A Uniquely Classic Vintage
– Red Fruited, Not Black
– Contemplative
– Drinking Well Young But Will Age
2021 Christophe Billon Côte-Rotie “Les Elotins”
– Huge Expressive Nose – an Olfactory Assault
– Black Olive, Blackberry, Blueberry
– Amazing Clarity
– So Floral
– Stunning Aromatic Depth
– Palate: Pure Wild Blueberries and Blackberries
– Decadent Fruit
– Elegant, Ethereal
– Insane Freshness
– Awash in Minerality
– 91+ Jeb Dunnuck/Terrific Value!
The Old Man and the Sea The Old Man and the Sea is, of course, a famous novella by Hemingway that won a Pulitzer Prize and was largely responsibly for him getting the Nobel Prize in literature. It tells the story of Santiago, an old fisherman who works on an “unlucky” boat. He has not caught a fish for 84 days but still goes out every day. On the 85th day, he catches an 18 foot Marlin and after fighting it for hours, it succumbs. Unfortunately, the fish is too large to fit in his boat and it is gradually eaten by sharks before Santiago can bring it back to shore.
Like all major works of fiction, The Old Man and the Sea has been subjected to rounds of critical analysis. Curiously, one of the most famous fans of the book was none other than Saddam Hussein who saw a bit of himself in the old fisherman. Santiago’s struggle against the odds with dignity resonated with the dictator. We will reserve judgement on whether Hussein comported himself with the same dignity as Santiago.
Christophe Billon is one of those characters who makes me think of this book. He’s been making wine for decades. And he does it in a very old school, traditional way. These are wines that harken back to a bygone era for me. There are not many winemakers left like Billon. And these are wines that should be purchased, cellared and celebrated.
Billon
I’ve never had a bottle of wine from him that was anything but great. In any vintage. In any vineyard. With any grape.
Viognier. Basic Cote Rotie. Single Vineyard Rote Rotie. Condrieu. IGP. They’re all great. Great, great, great, great great.
The man has the most basic labels I’ve ever seen. He could give a fig about the press. Or recognition. He just goes about his business every day making great wine.
The 2021 Vintage
e likely won’t see again in our lifetimes. There is wonderful structure that is so delicate with such delicate but firm tannins. I love the crystalline red fruits that have sometimes maybe some black fruits as well. But this is firmly a red fruited vintage. I love the delicacy of wines overall. These are quiet wines that don’t hit you over the head like 18/19/20. They are wines to contemplate over an evening. They are also ultra drinkable due to their delicacy but the classical structure ensures medium to long lives. In short they are wonderful. They recall 1996 and also 1994 besides the recent 2016 comparison.
The Wine
Today’s wine is the single best value in Côtie-Rôtie today and the first and only Billon Elotins that can be drunk upon release. I’m thrilled to sell the 2021 Christophe Billon Côte-Rotie “Les Elotins” for as little as $52.99 a bottle on a 4-Pack.
The 2021 Elotins has a huge expressive nose that is full of big berry fruit. Such a sick nose. Black olive, blackberry, blueberry with just amazing clarity. Floral. Just a wacko nose that is singing. Smoke and minerals. OMG it is so inviting. Some tree bark and just an olfactory assault. Incredible minerality. After an hour, you get blueberry and blackberries with lovely floral top notes. So refined, nuanced and complex. Has a $75 nose. Stunning depth to the aromas. Stunning fruit purity.
The palate is so juicy and so, so refined. Incredible purity and depth with such class and refinement. Opulent but also has energy to burn for days. Such well integrated wood with such deep fruit. Pure wild blueberries and blackberries. Just pumps and saturates your palate with all this fruit. Layers upon layers and layers. Refined and super velvety tannins that moderate between velvet and silk depending on how much air. They start silky but get velvety. Sweet fruit that is so alluring but not too sweet as it’s awash in minerality. Incredibly silky tannins that spread out on the exceptionally long finish. It is so, so elegant as great Côte Rotie has to be elegant. The delineation of the finish and mid palate is something to behold. After air it gets so good. Decadent fruit and a mid palate one can get lost in with such superb freshness and awesome granite finish. Superb concentration and structure. Elegant and yet so dense plus ethereal. Really captures what great Côte Rotie is about. Clean. Velvety and sweet tannins. Awesome. Really showing well today. Man, Billon is so so skilled. So complex already and so, so pure. Wonderful focus and such amazing linearity. Insane freshness keeps the fruit and minerality pumping on the long finish. The sheer amount of material will blow people away and ensure I think a nice long drinking window. Also will be accessible in its youth like the 19 was. Almost the sultry side of Syrah here.
This wine is just incredible and ideally will be at primetime drinking in 3-5 years. It’s likely much better now than when I tasted in late August 2023.
“ Smoky black fruits, candied violets, and incense notes all emerge from Billon’s 2020 Côte Rôtie Les Elotins, a medium to full-bodied, nicely concentrated, yet tannic wine that needs 3-4 years of bottle age. This cuvée is 97% Syrah and 3% Viognier, and comes primarily from the Côte Brune. It’s partially destemmed and the élevage spans 22 months in once- and twice-used barrels.”
91+ Jeb Dunnuck (2020)
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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