Côte Rôtie La Landonne, Etienne Guigal 2015

As majestic and regal as they come, the 2015 Côte Rôtie La Landonne is another perfect wine. A powerful, full-bodied, massively concentrated Côte Rôtie, it reveals a saturated purple color as well as an insane bouquet of smoked meats, graphite, liquid rocks, violets, and crème de cassis. It’s tannic as all hell, yet deep and flawlessly balanced, with no hard edges and a huge finish. It’s going to require a decade of cellaring to be drinkable but will keep for 40-50 years in cool cellars. 2030 - 2080

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. 2028 - 2045

The 2015 Côte Rôtie La Landonne is another wine that has perfection written all over it. Made in a more backward, concentrated, structured style, its inky purple color is followed by a mammoth bouquet of smoked black fruits, charcoal, camphor, and graphite, with more meaty notes developing with time in the glass. With a finish that won’t quit, this locked and loaded, full-bodied beast of a wine will be for patient consumers with cold cellars. It’s going to take a decade or more for it to be drinkable, but it might just be a 5- to 6-decade wine.

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.