This is a terrific wine and is drinking beautifully.  It does not need decanting, and in fact I would recommend tasting it immediately upon pulling the cork.  The bouquet changes over about an hour, and it is fun to witness the evolution of the wine during that time frame.

The wine is made from old Syrah vines from both the Cote Glonde and Cote Brune sections of Cote Rotie.  The wine has a dark purple color, with no signs of amber at the edges yet.  The bouquet has notes of blackberry, smoked bacon, leather, and a hint of black olive.  The wine still packs a lot of fruit on the palate.  Tannins are softening nicely, and the finish was near perfect.  This wine should easily hold up another ten years, but is entirely approachable now.

Those whose experience with Syrah is limited to California Syrah and Australian Shiraz owe it to themselves to try a well aged French Syrah from Cote Rotie or Hermitage.  If you can find this wine, you will have a stunning example of Syrah from this region, and you will no doubt understand what all the fuss is about when it comes to northern Rhone syrah based wines.

4.25 stars.

This wine was re-tasted in November 2006 with similar score and notes.

 

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