2011 Collines Rhodaniennes, La Rosine Syrah, Stéphane Ogier, Rhône
Critics reviews
Jeb Dunnuck - 30/12/2013
Stephane Ogier, tall and blond with rugged, Brad Pitt-like good looks, is the next generation of young, ambitious, well-traveled children from family-owned estates. Learning his trade and working next to his father, who is now fully retired, Stephane Ogier has moved confidently and dramatically to expand this estate from the Cote Rotie holdings to their vineyards that go into La Rosine and those from Seyssuel that go into l’Ame Soeur. He has also added a St-Joseph cuvee from a small parcel of vines in Malleval, next to his Condrieu holdings. Moreover, readers should not forget the recent white wine offerings from Ogier. The great success for the 2011s is attributable, as Ogier says, to harvesting seven days later than just about everyone else in Cote Rotie, in addition to aggressive green harvesting and farming practices in the vineyards. This is evident across the board as these are some of the finest 2011s I tasted in the Northern Rhone. Ogier has 12 separate Cote Rotie parcels spread along the hillsides of the Cote Blonde and Cote Brune. The 2011s were harvested between September 16 and October 8, and because of Ogier’s conservative farming practices as well as the courage it took to wait to harvest until after the rains, the quality of the fruit is outstanding. The 2010s are all remarkable wines at Ogier. Stephane Ogier also deserves accolades for what he has been able to achieve with his white wine program since he began it in 2007. There are now three cuvees, all outstanding.
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #204, Dec 2012
About this WINE
Domaine Stephane Ogier
The Ogier family had been established growers in Ampuis for over seven generations, but it was only in the 1980s that they began vinifying their own grapes. Stéphane joined the family estate in ’97, working alongside his father Michel, before taking over in 2003.
Heralded as the face of the Northern Rhône’s new generation, Stéphane continues acquiring new parcels and trying new techniques. He brings a Burgundian approach to the region’s terroir from his studies in Beaune. He works with multiple lieux-dits, vinifying each separately and using oak sparingly. This allows the characteristics of each to show. He releases many wines as single lieu-dit bottlings later in the year and others he blends, selecting from different barrels to build a style representative of both his vision and the vintage. Stéphane’s latest investment includes vineyards in Rasteau, Cairanne, and Plan de Dieu in the Southern Rhône, bringing his total land-ownings there up to 50 hectares, all destined for his Côtes-du-Rhône offering.
VdP des Comtes Rhodaniens
Vin de Pays des Comtés Rhodaniens is a Vin de Pays French wine appellation that encompasses vineyard area in the Rhône-Alpes region and wines from mainly Viognier, Syrah and Grenache grapes but also from Pinot Noir and Gamay as the appellations spans further to include portions of Beaujolais, Savoie and Jura.
Within the broad regional Vin de Pays appellation of Comtés Rhodaniens there are further wine classifications for specified areas including :
- Vin de Pays du Comté de Grignan
- Vin de Pays des Coteaux de l’Ardèche
- Vin de Pays des Coteaux de Baronnies
- Vin de Pays des Coteaux de Montélimar
- Vin de Pays des Gaules
Syrah/Shiraz
A noble black grape variety grown particularly in the Northern Rhône where it produces the great red wines of Hermitage, Cote Rôtie and Cornas, and in Australia where it produces wines of startling depth and intensity. Reasonably low yields are a crucial factor for quality as is picking at optimum ripeness. Its heartland, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, consists of 270 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards producing wines that brim with pepper, spices, tar and black treacle when young. After 5-10 years they become smooth and velvety with pronounced fruit characteristics of damsons, raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries.
It is now grown extensively in the Southern Rhône where it is blended with Grenache and Mourvèdre to produce the great red wines of Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas amongst others. Its spiritual home in Australia is the Barossa Valley, where there are plantings dating as far back as 1860. Australian Shiraz tends to be sweeter than its Northern Rhône counterpart and the best examples are redolent of new leather, dark chocolate, liquorice, and prunes and display a blackcurrant lusciousness.
South African producers such as Eben Sadie are now producing world- class Shiraz wines that represent astonishing value for money.
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Description
One of the leading names in the Cote Rotie, Domaine Stéphane Ogier has produced a serious Syrah full of inviting plum, berry fruits and spices. The heady nose shows lilac, violet and purple flowers which bring a lightness to the underlying darkness of the black fruit. Despite only being a Vin de Pays, this has elegance of a similar class to the greatest wines of the Cote Brune. Juicy fruit with long length and balance. One of the best value wines of the Rhone Valley.
Laura Atkinson, Fine Wine Dept., Private Account Manager
If you were to ask our team here at Berry Bros. & Rudd which Rhône wine they purchased the most, this may well be the one. It is a magnificent example with exuberant red and black-berried fruit on the back of a heady, yet ethereally aromatic nose, all bacon rind, violets and tapenade. Sublime balance and sheer quality of fruit ensure that it is unparalleled as a Vin de Pays.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Stéphane Ogier is now, arguably, the leading producer in Côte-Rôtie. Confident, modest and courteous, in short he is the perfect ambassador for the appellation. Stéphane now farms 12 parcels in Côte-Rôtie and has also launched a well-named Côtes du Rhône (Le Temps est Venu which we will sell elsewhere). He held his nerve through the rainy patches in September and the relatively late-picking has been rewarded with a superb range of wines. Stéphane compares their style, with more acidity and less alcohol than usual, to 2006, a vintage which has developed very nicely indeed.
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