Guigal la Landonne Cote Rotie 2001

The 2001 Cote Rotie La Landonne exhibits scents of new saddle leather, black truffles, melted road tar, vanilla, blackberries, and licorice in a primitive/Neanderthal style with huge tannin, intense concentration, and nearly mouth-searing firmness and toughness. Extremely powerful, rich, and backward, it will be drinkable between 2011andndash;2030.

The 1999 Côte Rôtie La Landonne seemed to be something from another world. It is inky black/purple in color, with an extraordinary nose of roasted nuts, charcoal, licorice, truffles, leather, roast beef, and jammy blackberry and cassis fruit. In the mouth, it is enormous, but brilliantly balanced, low in acidity (despite Guigal's comments about the vintage), with unreal levels of glycerin and extract. The tannins high, so this wine will probably require 10-12 years of aging. It will keep for 40+ years.

A Syrah wine from Rhone in France. 2001 Guigal Cote Rotie la Landonne 750ml

The 1998 Côte-Rôtie La Landonne is a perfect wine... at least for my palate. Its saturated black/purple color is accompanied by an extraordinary nose of smoke, incense, tapenade, creosote, blackberry, and currant aromas. It is densely packed with blackberry, truffle, chocolate, and leather-like flavors. The wine possesses high tannin, but perfect harmony, impeccable balance, and gorgeous integration of acidity, alcohol, and tannin. It is a tour de force in winemaking. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2025.

In the superlative '99 vintage, La Landonne produced quality that can be compared to that of the best vintages since 1978, when Guigal began to make to make this bottling. Elegant and racy, it has a thick texture, with ripe tannins melting on the palate, and delivers refined blackberry flavors. Like all three Guigal single-vineyard cru, it was aged for 42 months in new oak barriques, and it smells of mocha-scented oak and chocolate. While tempting now, it will hold for about two decades. Drink now through 2020.

Fantastic. This full-bodied, pitch-black wine caresses the palate with a thick and opulent texture, ultrasoft tannins and rich fruit, then explodes with fresh, vibrant intensity, leaving a long trail of memories on the smoke, cassis, black currant, mineral aftertaste. Drink now through 2020.

Captivating aromas of plum cake, hoisin sauce and warm Valrhona chocolate lead the way for this seductive red that has raspberry, blackberry and fig fruit riding atop espresso, graphite and mineral flavors. Powerful tannins and racy acidity combine forces on the finish for a remarkably elegant impression. Best from 2008 through 2030.