I did not “discover” Xavier Gérard’s superb Côte-Rôtie, nor am I the first to anoint him one of the most compelling superstars-to-be in the Northern Rhône. That honor probably goes to Decanter magazine and/or a constellation of online wine chatrooms, whose gushing praise over the last year has catapulted Xavier from quiet obscurity into the rabid realm of sought-after cult wine celebrity.
Surfing this wave of well-deserved industry buzz, Gérard’s 2015 Côte-Rôtie arrived at the beginning of the year here in California. It immediately became the Northern Rhône “it” wine on social media, before the entire vintage sold out in a week. I was travelling in Europe and returned home just in time to help a friend empty his last bottle. It was love at first sip and I’ve spent subsequent months hunting down back vintages of Xavier’s Côte-Rôtie. His 2011 was stellar and 2014 showed a depth and detail that many Northern Rhône superstars would’ve killed for in such a chaotic vintage. Still, today’s 2013 remains my hands-down favorite of them all. 2013 is a truly classic vintage, built for a long evolution in the cellar and with all the deep black fruit, exotic turkish coffee/wildflower aromatics and roasted meat savor to drive a Côte-Rôtie fanatic like me insane. Especially when comparable wines from similar real estate retail for $200-$500 per bottle, who can pass up this future collectors item at $58?
[*PLEASE NOTE: today’s wine is only available on pre-arrival and will ship from California the week of Monday, 7/2. Limit 12 bottles per customer.]
Xavier Gérard farms a paltry 3.2 hectares of vines in Cote-Rotie. Whereas many local vignerons employ a team of vineyard workers or outside contractors, Xavier prefers to do the back-breaking work himself. After all, he’s in his early 30s, built like an NFL wide receiver, and it’s not hard to imagine the square-jawed Xavier effortlessly scaling the jagged hillside vineyards of Côte-Rôtie each morning. This combination of personal involvement in every detail and sense of boundless energy and power is evident in all Domaine Gérard’s wines. Still, there’s more to the story than the man. Let’s start with real estate: Gérard farms a “royal flush” of vineyard sites on this world-famous hillside, starting with “Mollard” and “Viallière” and ending with “Fongeant” and “La Landonne” (two sites that form the backbone of the most expensive and sought-after wines in the region from Jamet and Guigal). In Burgundy, these would be Grand Crus, but somehow, they make it into Xavier’s $58 Côte-Rôtie! In the cellar, Xavier is talented and, having logged many hours as the son of a Côte-Rôtie winemaker, he is experienced in a variety of methods that conjure the optimal expressiveness of his home-turf terroir, no matter the vintage. More often than not, that means whole-cluster fermentation and élevage (aging) in larger-sized barrels known as demi-muids, but there is no dogma or set “recipe” at Domaine Gérard and Xavier is never afraid of subtle changes.
I was about to begin this last paragraph with the phrase “in the glass…”, but frankly, it never feels like Xavier’s Côte-Rôtie is confined to one’s glass. This is a wine that explodes from the decanter with a burst of black currants, cherries and inky black mulberries that is followed up immediately with light roasted coffee, garrigue herbs, violets, and a firmly granitic/mineral quality I associate with the absolute finest wines in Côte-Rôtie. Still, it is the impossible-to-ignore sense of integration, harmony, and finesse that defines Xavier Gérard’s Côte-Rôtie. This is an extremely serious and undeniably world-class wine. If enjoying today, please decant for 90 minutes before serving in large Bordeaux stems alongside a platter of braised pork shanks, potato gratin, and some sautéed summer greens. And actually, you might want to decant two because one bottle of this beauty isn’t enough! Thereafter, I urge you to follow my lead and deposit another 10 bottles into your cellar for safe keeping. Given the obvious quality, relatively rock-bottom price, and the elite real estate from which this bottle originates, I’m entirely confident that Xavier Gérard Côte-Rôtie will appreciate exponentially in value in the coming years. For now, I’m going to drink up with a big smile on my face!
