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Domaine Xavier Gérard, Côte-Rôtie

Northern Rhône Valley, France 2017 (750mL)
$75.00
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Domaine Xavier Gérard, Côte-Rôtie

If you are building a wine collection of any size and truly care about intrinsic quality, then you should actively be seeking out Xavier Gérard’s brilliant expressions of Côte-Rôtie. Having personally visited and tasted through each barrel in his cramped cellar/garage, it’s evidently clear that young gun Xavier has scaled the ivory tower of “it” producers in record time. Most impressive of all, his limited wares are still available at welcome prices that deliver just as much, if not more pleasure and authenticity than top-dollar cult labels like Jamet and Guigal.


We’ve now offered three vintages of Gérard’s Côte-Rôtie, all of which saw allocations plummet to “0” at breakneck speed. Accordingly, all of us were pleasantly shocked (and baffled) to be among the first to get ahold of today’s 2017 for $75—how prices comfortably remain in double-digit territory is beyond us, considering how sought-after and exalted these wines have become. While already delicious and ultra-perfumed, this structurally sound ‘17 Côte-Rôtie has the vigor and power to age decades with its “golden age” of drinking coming around birthdays six and seven. Just as we said for last year’s microscopic allocation: Gérard ranks among the most under-valued investments in wine right now, and I wouldn’t be surprised one bit to see his bottles reaching triple-digits in the coming years. So, if you love Northern Rhône Syrah, heck, if you love classic, age-worthy French wine, be sure to take all six bottles available to you today.


My colleague Mark Osburn and I enjoyed a memorable visit with Xavier Gérard in 2018; he is a young guy farming about three hectares of Côte-Rôtie vines by hand (as if there were any other way) and vinifying wines in the most traditional manner possible. He took over the operation from his parents, from whom he learned his craft, and as we’ve noted in previous offers, he definitely looks the part: He’s built like a football player, no doubt thanks to the dizzyingly steep inclines of his vineyards and the back-breaking labor involved in tending them. In his small cellar, fermentations are initiated by ambient yeasts and varying percentages of whole grape clusters are left in the must. His Côte-Rôtie is aged in large, used demi-muid barrels before bottling, leaving nary a trace of toastiness or vanilla in the finished product. This is a soulful, high-toned Syrah that perfectly captures what Côte-Rôtie is all about.



Given the wine’s premium vineyard sources, this should come as no surprise. The majority of the blend comes from a lieu-dit called “Mollard,” with the remainder of the fruit hailing from the “Font-Jean,” “Viallière,” and “La Landonne” vineyards. The latter, of course, is one of the most famous (and steepest) sites in the darker-soiled “Côte Brune,” singled out on top-dollar bottlings from Guigal and Delas, among others.



As I noted above, Gérard’s newly released Côte-Rôtie will reward patience in the cellar, but it certainly isn’t forbidding now—for that, we have (1) the ‘17 vintage, (2) partial whole-cluster fermentation, and (3) a long aging regimen in French barrels to thank. That said, we all recommend a minimum two-hour decant if consuming in the next few years. We tracked our sample bottle over four days (!) and it only kept blossoming and developing with each revisit. In the glass, the wine reveals a deep purple-red core and expresses a breathtaking mosaic of elite Northern Rhône aromatics: grilled meat, sun-roasted brambleberries, tar, olive tapenade, freshly cracked pepper, ripe black cherries, Chambord, dried violets, and crushed hot stone. Because it is such a generous example of Côte-Rôtie, it’s exactly what I would bring to a dinner party with a lineup of world-class French wines. Medium-bodied and gushing with fruit and a compact mineral core, this promises to win over those who appreciate a muscular, powerful Syrah that sings with high-toned energy. I can’t think of a better pairing than a tender, judiciously herbed rack of lamb still sizzling from the grill. Cheers!

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Country
France
Region
Northern Rhône Valley
Sub-Region
FranceCôte-Rôtie
Soil
Granite & Schist
Farming
Sustainable
Blend
Syrah 100%
Alcohol
14.0
OAK
Large French Oak 'Demi-Muids'
TEMP.
60-65
Glassware
Burgundy Stems
Drinking
Now-2040
Decanting
2+ Hours
Pairing
Grilled Rack of Lamb

France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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