Etienne Guigal, Cote Rotie La Landonne 2015

robert_parker100

Reviewed by: Jeb Dunnuck

My note for the 2015 Côte Rôtie La Landonne started with “crazy good” and included more than a few expletives as well. Just a classic expression of this cuvée, with a huge nose of cured meats, smoked black fruits, licorice and crushed rock, it tastes like the syrup of Côte Rôtie and is full-bodied, unctuous, massively concentrated and structured. Forget bottles for a decade and enjoy over the following half century.

robert_parker100

Reviewed by: Joe Czerwinski

Of all the terrific single-vineyard Cote Roties I tasted at Guigal this year, I’m most confident that this wine will ultimately reach perfection after bottling. The 2015 Cote Rotie La Landonne is incredibly rich and concentrated, yet it remains detailed and complex, with plum and cassis flavors accented by hints of pencil shavings, espresso, black olives, roasted meat and dark chocolate. Full-bodied and solidly built, it combines that power with a velvety feel and a nearly endless finish. Wow.

robert_parker100

Reviewed by: Joe Czerwinski

Impenetrably dense and dark, the 2015 Cote Rotie La Landonne is loaded with black olive, espresso and cassis fruit. It's full-bodied, rich and velvety in texture and nearly endless on the finish, yet it never seems overbearing or overripe, remaining vibrant and fun from start to finish. Right now, the tannins are prominent, giving the wine a dry, dusty sendoff, so give it a decade to mellow before opening a bottle.

vinous97

Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds

Deep, bright-rimmed purple. An exotically perfumed, expressive bouquet evokes dark fruit liqueur, spicecake, smoky bacon, incense, vanilla and incense. A sexy floral nuance emerges with air and carries onto the palate, which displays intense blueberry, cherry liqueur, candied licorice and floral pastille flavors that deepen and spread out steadily on the back half. The floral, bacon and mineral notes come back strong on a strikingly long, youthfully tannic finish, that leaves a juicy blue fruit note behind.

james_suckling100

Reviewed by: James Suckling

This is a profound wine, offering really striking depth of aromas and flavors with a resonance that really stops you still. Dark stones, ripe dark plums and blackberries, licorice, sarsaparilla, orange peel and cloves with still more spices floating in the midst. The palate has such perfectly captured intensity of ripe dark plums and blackberries that it is seemingly impenetrable for now. Yet, the detail is all here. It builds and fills the palate completely with ripe, espresso-laced blackberries, black cherries and dark plums and delivers such freshness at the finish. This is a triumph and up there with the greatest La Landonne releases. Try from 2027.