Clusel Roch - Cote Rotie Les Grandes Places 2020

Dark, bright-hued purple. Heady black and blue fruit, violet, incense and smoky mineral aromas are complemented by hints of licorice and exotic spices. Appealingly sweet and expansive on the palate, offering concentrated but almost shockingly lively black raspberry, blueberry, floral pastille, smoky bacon and fruitcake flavors that show sharp delineation and mineral- and spice-driven lift. Steadily building tannins give shape to the mineral-tinged finish, which emphatically echoes the blue fruit, floral and spice notes. Josh Raynolds

Domaine Clusel-Roch (pronounced Cluzel-Roke) started as Domaine Clusel, founded by the Rene Clusel, who began bottling his wine in 1969. At the time, Rene Clusel had but 1 hectare of vineyard along with many hectares of apricot trees.

Rene's son Gilbert decided to continue in his father's winemaking footsteps and completed his enological studies in 1977. The domaine, however, was too small to provide income for two families. Gilbert consequently chose to rent some vineyards and begin producing his own wine, while at the same time helping his father both in the vineyards and in the chai.

When Rene Clusel retired in 1987, his vines were taken over by Gilbert. For the first time, the parcel in Les Grandes Places was bottled separately. Two years later Domaine Clusel became Domaine Clusel-Roch, incorporating the name of both partners, Gilbert Clusel and his wife Brigitte Roch. This also gave the domaine an identity of its own.

Today the property remains tiny: Just 3.5 hectares in Cote Rotie and 1/2 hectare in Condrieu. The chai, built in 1992 in Verenay, is attached to their house and just next to the house of Rene Clusel. Being on the side of the sloped hill of Cote Rotie allows Gilbert and Brigitte to take advantage of gravity and naturally treat their fruit gently by avoiding the usage of pumps at vinification time.

Dark, bright-hued purple. Heady black and blue fruit, violet, incense and smoky mineral aromas are complemented by hints of licorice and exotic spices. Appealingly sweet and expansive on the palate, offering concentrated but almost shockingly lively black raspberry, blueberry, floral pastille, smoky bacon and fruitcake flavors that show sharp delineation and mineral- and spice-driven lift. Steadily building tannins give shape to the mineral-tinged finish, which emphatically echoes the blue fruit, floral and spice notes.