Côte Rôtie Ampodium, Dom. Rostaing - 2012

As wine lovers know, Domaine Rostaing's wines are among the finest in Côte-Rôtie! And that's been the case for some years now... But what is generally less well known is that the estate is also based in the Languedoc region, in Langlade to be precise, just west of Nîmes.

In the late 1990s, René and his wife bought this property in the vast Coteaux du Languedoc appellation. Initially, René worked closely with Roc d'Anglade in the person of Rémy Pedreno, before following his own path in this new terroir, which is in no way comparable to Côte-Rôtie. The estate, originally called Puech Chaud, is now known as Puech Noble, to avoid confusion with Gérard Bru's Puech Haut estate.

The estate now covers 22 hectares in a single block, 12.5 of which are planted with vines. The soil here is ancient limestone garrigue, very stony, and bears a striking resemblance to the Arboussas plateau of the legendary Grange des Pères. The grapes grown here are of course Syrah, but also Mourvèdre and Grenache Noir, and Grenache Blanc and Vermentino for the whites. The vines are tended without weedkillers, using entirely mechanical methods, with an average yield of around 35 hl/hectare.

In the cellar, the grapes are harvested by hand, in the same way as at Ampuis for the reds, and partially destemmed. Fermentation and maceration last an average of 3 weeks. This is followed by...