Wine Advocate (98-100)

Like the 2017, Guigal's 2018 Cote Rotie La Mouline boasts incredible aromatics, with highs ranging from violets and peppery spice to ripe blueberries and raspberries. The oak is in the background, supporting the supple fruit. Full-bodied, lush and silky, La Mouline seems to have it all in 2018.

Wine Advocate (98)

Now that it's in bottle, the 2014 Cote Rotie La Turque has exceeded all of my earlier expectations. It's got those classic Côte Rôtie elements on the nose of smoked bacon, olives and violets, seamlessly entwined with supple tannins and raspberry fruit. Medium to full-bodied, it's silky and fine, showing tremendous length and complexity on the finish. On this occasion, La Turque came to the head of the class as the most approachable, exciting and elegant of the three La Las.

Wine Advocate (98)

Loaded with exotic perfumes of spring flowers and ripe berries, the 2016 Cote Rotie La Turque looks more like the wine I first tasted back in 2017. Medium to full-bodied, it's exquisitely silky and elegant from start to incredibly long finish; while there is ample concentration and a fine, lacy framework of tannins to support the fruit, the tannins virtually melt away into the background, leaving behind lingering notes of salted licorice and mocha. Approachable now, it should drink well for at least two decades.

Jeb Dunnuck (97-100)

I loved the 2017 Côte Rôtie La Turque, which shows the sunny warmth of the vintage while staying balanced, pure, and light on its feet. Awesome notes of ripe black fruits, chocolate, spice box, and incense emerge from the glass and it’s full-bodied, has building tannins, a weightless texture, and a monster of a finish. This quintessential La Turque will deliver plenty of charm in its youth, yet benefit from 4-6 years of bottle age, and age for 30-35 years as well.

Jeb Dunnuck (98-100)

The 2018 Côte Rôtie La Turque offers meatier, more savory, mineral-driven aromatics yet has an incredible core of pure cassis and darker fruits. A straight-up massive wine, it has a stacked mid-palate, terrific freshness, and again, a purity of fruit that’s just off the chart. Despite its overall size and richness, it’s weightless and as graceful as a ballerina. It always needs more time to come around compared to the La Mouline and generally starts to drink beautifully a decade after the vintage.

Jeb Dunnuck (98-100)

The 2018 Côte Rôtie La Turque offers meatier, more savory, mineral-driven aromatics yet has an incredible core of pure cassis and darker fruits. A straight-up massive wine, it has a stacked mid-palate, terrific freshness, and again, a purity of fruit that’s just off the chart. Despite its overall size and richness, it’s weightless and as graceful as a ballerina. It always needs more time to come around compared to the La Mouline and generally starts to drink beautifully a decade after the vintage.

Jeb Dunnuck (98-100)

The 2019 Côte Rôtie Landonne is legendary stuff and one of those wines that will stop you in your tracks. Dense purple, with full-bodied aromas and flavors of dark, smoky fruits, smoked game, iron, and peppery herbs, it has incredible purity of fruit, perfect balance, and masses of silky, polished tannins. It’s going to demand a decade of bottle age, but this is magical.

Vinous (97)

Opaque ruby. Vibrant blackberry, cherry, incense, Moroccan spice, potpourri and smoky mineral qualities on the expansive, seductively perfumed nose. Offers vibrant black and blue fruit, spicecake, olive and floral pastille flavors that show bright detail and energetic mineral lift. The floral and spice notes recur strongly on the youthfully gripping finish, which features mounting tannins and lingering smokiness.

Decanter (99)

Beautifully fragrant and floral, showing rose and violet characters. Super-fine, silky tannins and lovely acidity, this is an eminently classic Côte Brune, with flowers, cinnamon, black olive, rosemary and perfectly ripe, bright blackberries. It has a tapered finish - not the same concentration and power as 2019 - but with great finesse and elegance of expression. Beautifully balanced and very hard to fault.

John Livingstone-Learmonth (5)

The bouquet is bold, on beef stock, iron, dense black berries, has a poised, integral sweetness, airs of raspberry liqueur, oak smoke. It’s a solid start. The palate has the theme of mineral well placed through it, a lot of mountain of matter, thickening towards the finish. It holds sparkling and dense fruits – cassis, soaked cherries. It is vibrant and very full; there is real flair off its sun-dialled deck. It has great juice; it’s a treat to taste this. Decanting advised. It has a lot of black fruits, a belle freshness to underpin it; it’s very long.

Vinous (92)

Deep ruby. A mineral- and smoke-tinged bouquet evokes ripe black and blue fruits and licorice; a floral nuance builds as the wine opens with air. Shows very good energy and spicy lift to its juicy boysenberry and bitter cherry flavors, which are complemented by suggestions of allspice, smoked meat and candied licorice. Finishes long and taut, with repeating cherry notes, chewy tannic grip and a jolt of spicy cracked pepper.

Vinous (92)

Brilliant violet. Intense, mineral-accented cherry pit and cassis scents, along with hints of succulent herbs, olive, smoky bacon and violet. Juicy dark fruit and bitter cherry flavors unfold and slowly turn sweeter on the back half while picking up a zesty hint of cracked pepper. Fine-grained tannins lend gentle grip to the finish, which hangs on with impressive, spicy tenacity and repeating smokiness.

Tim Atkin MW (96)

South Africa's Sweet Wine of the Year 2017.

Decanter (98)

An historical wine, Vin de Constance has been re-established in the last few years as one of the world’s finest sweet wines. Dried Muscat grapes are aged for three years before bottling, in French and Hungarian casks with a touch of acacia wood. Citrus, orange zest, rosewater and spice notes leap out of the glass. The palate has a laser-like focus with massive sweetness perfectly balanced by acidity and a mineral finish. As impressive as Château d’Yquem (and considerably better value).

Tim Atkin MW (98)

Increasingly celebrated as one of the great sweet wines of the world, not just the Cape, Vin de Constance is a delight to taste and review. Slightly drier than the 205 release at 165 grams of sugar, it has more in common with the Loire or Tokaji than it does with Sauternes in terms of freshness and structure.

Matthew Jukes (19.5++)

I am informed by the top man at Klein Constantia that the price will be the same as last year’s superb 2017 and all of the likely candidates in the UK are likely to hold stock. It will require a little effort on Google and you will see that a large number of wine merchants will list 2018 Vin de Constance and while the prices swing around like no other wine I know, at £60 or so, for a half litre, it certainly makes sense to me and when you consider the sheer quality of this vintage, it is a bargain for this celestial experience. Stock is likely to arrive in September 2021, but do feel free to register your interest with your preferred wine merchant now. Vintage reports suggest that the build-up to the 2018 harvest brought the highest summer rainfall of the last six years and, combined with some of the coldest night-time temperatures on record, the vines were granted a very long and very slow growing season. These conditions have imbued extreme delicacy of perfume and flavour and also staggering concentration and length in this wine. It also means that the 2018 vintage has otherworldly characteristics and I cannot remember a young vintage tasting so refined and demure. Light bunches and tiny Muscat de Frontignan berries underline just how unusual this vintage was and with a harvest that was a fortnight later than average and crops down by about 15% all of these facts make sense when you taste this ethereal wine. Aged for three years in a combination of 50% new French oak barrels, a small number of acacia barrels, as well as large format foudres, this is both a sensual and also sensitive wine. For a start, the colour is incredibly pale – think a young Sancerre! But the viscosity is amazing when you pour a glass because the liquid moves ever so slightly slower and more deliberately into the glass. The lights come on and the brain fires up immediately and it takes you by surprise just how quickly your olfactory system senses that you are in the presence of greatness. I was in a state of heightened anticipation, long before I raised the glass to my lips and the reward is exquisite. The perfume and palate combine in an astral haze of delight with orange blossom, fig, lemon verbena, wild honey and acacia notes caressing your senses. The texture is super-smooth, incredibly long and unnervingly gentle. It certainly possesses the longest finish I can remember on a Vin de Constance and I have, very fortunately, a tasted huge number of vintages of this wine. If you have never tasted this wine before, please start with this vintage – it will blow your mind. If you have and you are a fan, this is a critical purchase for your collection. I cannot wait to add this wine to my cellar later in the year.

Decanter (98)

Butterscotch, lemon patisserie and peach aromas. Pristine quality to the texture, lively and thrilling, this is a serious, opulent and powerful wine, more on the spiced, nuanced side with aspects of dried herbs, wood scents and bitter lemon and orange with a touch of honeyed lychee. It feels supremely complex and characterful. Sophisticated, layered and balanced with some minerality, a slight graphite edge all of which adds to the whole. It's still extremely youthful but there is real sculpting here, a sense of precision, style and freshness. Well crafted with an extremely long life ahead. A wonder, and one of the best from the estate!

Dive into the enchanting experience of tasting the exquisite Lafoy Cote Rotie Rozier 2018. Crafted in the hallowed vineyards of the northern Rhone Valley in France, this fine wine reaffirms the renowned legacy of its producer, the eminent Domaine Lafoy. This splendid bottle combines the signature Syrah grapes with a minuscule addition of Viognier, delivering an aromatic symphony upon uncorking.

Meticulously aged in oak barrels for 18 months, the Lafoy Cote Rotie Rozier 2018 showcases an inimitable profile of blackberry fruit, spiced undertones, and subtly smoky notes, layered with complexities of leather and black pepper, truly epitomising the expression of the terroir. This wine promises an elongated, velvety finish, delighting the palate with every sip, and resonates with Lafoy's commitment to creating wines that harmoniously blend power and elegance. Acquire this laudable vintage to enhance your collection of fine wines compellingly.

Discover the enchanting experience of indulging in the Lafoy Cote Rotie Rozier 2018, an epitome of fine winemaking expertise and tradition.

Jeb Dunnuck (100)

One of the wines of the vintage, the 2015 Côte Rôtie Belle Helene is up there with the handful of greatest young Syrahs I've ever been lucky enough to taste. Coming all from the Côte Rozier lieu-dit in the northern portion of the appellation, just above Guigal's la Landonne lieu-dit, this majestic wine offers incredible blue fruits, liquid violets, olive tapenade, and aged meats. Full-bodied, ultra-fine, deep, concentrated, and as seamless and pure as it gets. It's already approachable (which is rare for this cuvée) due to its perfectly ripe tannin, yet will need 7-8 years of bottle age and keep for 2-3 decades.

Wine Advocate (97)

Even better and shockingly good in the vintage, the 2011 Cote Rotie Lancement is 100% Syrah that comes from the more southern end of the appellation (more Cote Blonde than Cote Brune). Giving the top Belle Helene cuvee a run for its money, this thrilling 2011 dishes out spectacular notes sweet berry fruit, bacon, pepper and gamy nuances that flow to a full-bodied, seamless and incredibly textured, lengthy feel on the palate. Possessing no hard edges and perfect integration of its acidity, tannin and fruit, this is riveting stuff that should not be missed!

Vinous (93)

Deep, lurid violet. Potent, mineral- and spice-accented red and dark fruit preserve aromas take on hints of olive and licorice as the wine opens up. Shows very good depth as well as energy in the mouth, offering gently sweet raspberry, cherry and floral pastille flavors and a touch of spicy black pepper. Distinctly suave and focused on the impressively long finish, which features sneaky tannins and a late, sweetening jolt of candied violet. For an entry-level Côte-Rôtie, this wine is awfully impressive. 10% new oak.

Vinous (96)

Inky ruby. Powerful, spice- and smoke-accented aromas of fresh black and blue fruits, candied violet, licorice and cola, along with a hint of exotic spices that builds in the glass. Sweet, palate-staining cassis, boysenberry, floral pastille and licorice flavors turn livelier with air. Impressively concentrated but surprisingly energetic, courtesy of its spine of smoky minerality. Finishes sappy, youthfully chewy and extremely long, with steadily mounting tannins and lingering florality. 25% new oak.

Wine Advocate (94)

The 2017 Cote Rotie Domaine des Pierrelles is full-bodied but exceedingly elegant, with silky, fine-grained tannins. Charming notes of violets, raspberries and black olives lead the way, backed by hints of dried spices and mocha, finishing long. It's a complex and compelling example of Cote Rotie, and it's great to see all of the Jaboulet team's hard work in the vineyards paying off.

Vinous (92)

Opaque ruby. Powerful cherry, dark berries, olive and smoky minerals on the highly fragrant nose. Juicy and broad on the palate, offering bitter cherry, blackberry, candied violet and spicecake flavors that unfurl slowly on the back half. Shows impressive clarity and finishes on a smoky note, with resonating spiciness and rounded, even tannins that sneak in late.

Jancis Robinson (17.5)

Cask sample. Vivid stemmy character cutting across the redcurrant fruit on the nose. Superb concentration of fruit on the palate, yet avoids lumbering heaviness via fresh acid and a lengthy, perfumed finish. Savoury soy and aniseed character to finish. (RH)

Jeb Dunnuck (100)

One of the genuinely great, mature Côte Rôties out there today , the 1999 Côte Rôtie Côte Blonde has everything you could want in a wine. Gorgeous amounts of ripe red and black fruits, spring flowers, charcuterie, violets, and spice define the bouquet and it’s full-bodied, multi-dimensional, and seamless on the palate. From a year that yielded concentrated yet fresh, classic wines, this beautiful, magical wine is going to cruise in cold cellars for another decade.

Wine Advocate (98)

The 2016 Cote Rotie La Cote Blonde (from the lieu-dit of the same name—not a blend of sites) is a terrific effort. It blends the structure of la Viallière with the elegance of la Landonne, making it a truly complete and compelling bottle. Some mocha, black olive and meaty notes lend it a savory cast, while the palate is creamy and concentrated, firm but silky. It's medium to full-bodied, with a fine, licorice-tinged finish that lingers a good long time. It should drink well for 20+ years.

Wine Advocate (98)

Even better than last year, the recently bottled 2017 Cote Rotie La Cote Blonde was singing when I tasted it back in July. Floral and berry notes accent mocha-tinged aromas in this medium to full-bodied wine. It's silky, long and intense, with a couple of decades of life ahead of it. It's simply difficult to describe the waves of savory complexity this wine now shows, coupled with a succulent texture and tremendous length.

Wine Advocate (97)

Subtle notes of baking spices frame hints of tea, olives and raspberries on the nose of the 2016 Cote Rotie la Landonne. A paragon of elegance, it's medium to full-bodied, but silky from start to lingering finish. It's a wine that's pretty much guaranteed to make even the steeliest curmudgeon smile, as it's so bright, ephemeral and luscious. It's not the rich, ripe wine the 2015 is, but it's suave, complex and long.

Wine Advocate (92-94)

From one of the prime terroirs in the appellation, the 2015 Côte Rôtie Lancement is another full-bodied, modern-styled beauty from this team. Violets, plums, incense and exotics spices all emerge from the glass and it has ripe, sweet tannin and a great finish. Made from 100% Syrah aged two years in new Burgundy barrels, it should have two decades of longevity.