Description
Winemaker Notes
Deep dark color with mauve tints. Spices, black fruits and delicate oak aromas. A dense, expressive and intense nose. A tannic and racy wine. Aromas of prunes, blackberry and vanilla. Powerful, concentrated and structured palate. A wine from a tannic and muscular vintage due to the hot climate. Solid tannins, well rounded by long oak ageing.
Pair with game, red meat and cheese.
Professional Ratings
95 Wine Spectator
A dark, thick, blockbuster style, with layers of sweet tapenade, steeped cherry, espresso, lavender paste and chewy earth that unfurl. Rich and smoky, showing decadent lashings of oak toast and charred mesquite. Bay leaf and white pepper add an appealing flash of freshness. Iron-edged tannins are firm yet not chunky, offering a refined feeling on the substantial finish. Syrah and Viognier.
93 Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Somber and darker in profile than the Brune et Blonde, the 2021 Côte-Rôtie Château d’Ampuis has turned out very well in bottle, revealing aromas of smoke, oak, toast, spices and baked dark berries intertwined with notes of iris. Medium- to full-bodied, structured and concentrated, it offers a firm core of fruit and a solid chassis of tannins, concluding with a long, mineral finish.
92 Jeb Dunnuck
A solid step up, the 2021 Côte Rôtie Château D’Ampuis offers ripe red and black fruits, bacon fat, flowers, and violets. Medium-bodied and nicely concentrated, it has ripe tannins, a silky texture, and no hard edges. Based on 93% Syrah and 7% Viognier and aged all in new French oak for 38 months, this beautiful effort will evolve for 15+ years. Drink 2025-2040.
92 Vinous
After last year’s showing from barrel was inconclusive, the bottled version of the 2021 Côte-Rôtie Château d’Ampuis fares much better. Pencil shaving, fresh violet, red plum, cedar and an espresso shot frame its complex aromatic profile. Less bold and concentrated compared to the preceding vintages, the 2021 feels like taking a time capsule back into the 1980s, with its lean, taut stature, firm acidic backbone and just ripe fruit. A long, refined finish wraps it up. This was vinified with roughly 15% whole clusters.
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