Levet Cote-Rotie La Chavaroche 2020
-
Parker
Robert -
Dunnuck
Jeb
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Aromas of red, blue and black fruits with additional notes of purple flowers, black pepper, red meat and minerality. This wine is flawlessly balanced.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Labeled La Peroline in markets outside the United States, the 2020 Cote Rotie La Chavaroche (a barrel sample, from the lieu-dit of the same name) is another terrific wine from this tiny estate. It's a bit more complex and herbal-stemmy than the other bottlings, but it's also floral and tea-scented, with baskets of purple raspberries on the nose as well. Medium to full-bodied, it's the silkiest, most complete of the three cuvées at this address, while still boasting ample concentration and length and plenty of ripe tannins. Give it at least another 5 years in a cool cellar.
Barrel Sample: 95-97 -
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Côte Rôtie La Chavaroche brings another level of complexity, with a smorgasbord-like array of spring flowers, violets, iron, and both red and black fruits. Medium to full-bodied and concentrated, with plenty of structure, it's always a more floral, gamey, wild wine when compared to the Les Journaries. This brilliant, old school-styled Côte Rôtie is going to need 5-6 years of bottle age but will unquestionably deliver the wild ride that these wines always provide. Note, the Chavaroche goes by the name Peroline in Europe.
Range: 93-95+
Other Vintages
2019-
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Parker
Robert
-
Dunnuck
Jeb
-
Parker
Robert
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
The cultivation of vines here began with Greek settlers who arrived in 600 BC. Its proximity to Vienne was important then and also when that city became a Roman settlement but its situation, far from the negociants of Tain, led to its decline in more modern history. However the 1990s brought with it a revival fueled by one producer, Marcel Guigal, who believed in the zone’s potential. He, along with the critic, Robert Parker, are said to be responsible for the zone’s later 20th century renaissance.
Where the Rhone River turns, there is a build up of schist rock and a remarkable angle that produces slopes to maximize the rays of the sun. Cote Rotie remains one of the steepest in viticultural France. Its varied slopes have two designations. Some are dedicated as Côte Blonde and others as Côte Brune. Syrahs coming from Côte Blonde are lighter, more floral, and ready for earlier consumption—they can also include up to 20% of the highly scented Viognier. Those from Côte Brune are more sturdy, age-worthy and are typically nearly 100% Syrah. Either way, a Cote Rotie is going to have a particularly haunting and savory perfume, expressing a more feminine side of the northern Rhone.