Saint Cosme Côte-Rôtie 2023
£56.45
The wine
Côte-Rôtie, the roasted slope, is the northernmost appellation of the Rhône and the most finely drawn of its reds. The terraces above Ampuis are steep enough that everything is done by hand, and the wines carry a perfume of violet and black pepper that sets them apart from the broader Syrahs further south. This is one of Louis Barruol's negociant bottlings, made from fruit he oversees from pruning through to bottling, and it shows the lifted, silken side of the appellation.
The producer
Château de Saint Cosme
View all Château de Saint Cosme winesChâteau de Saint Cosme sits in Gigondas and has been in the Barruol family for over five hundred years. Louis Barruol, the fourteenth generation, took over from his father in 1992 and is now among the most respected winemakers in the Rhône, referred to by his peers as the Genius of Gigondas.
The estate is exceptionally sited at the crosspoint of two geological faults, a rare piece of luck that gives it remarkable diversity of soil. Barruol uses it to make a series of parcellaire cuvees from individual old-vine plots: Le Claux, Hominis Fides and Le Poste each express a different corner of the appellation.
He has also built a negociant range, working closely with growers across the valley and overseeing vineyard management, harvest and vinification himself. It lets him work terroirs he does not own, from Condrieu and Côte-Rôtie in the north to Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the south, and the results are consistently among the best examples of their appellations.
