The Tony Gwynn of the Rhone - More Consistently Great Wines in More Vineyards Over More Time Than Anyone I Drink

 No Press, no Pundits, No Care
 - Making Brilliant Wines for Decades
 - A "Winemaker's Winemaker"
 - A Favorite of the Greek (Even Though We Buy Direct)
 - Just Churns Out Amazing Wines Year After Year After Year

2018 Maryline & Christophe Billon Côte Rotie "La Brocarde"
 - Psychotic Nose: Floral, So complex. 
 - So Many Deep Intoxicating Aromas
 - Huge Granite
 - Big Florals, Deep Violets, Lilacs
 - Spice, Smoke and Cassis
 - Palate: Concentrated, Velvety Blackberry Fruit 
 - Tiny Berry Fruit Complexity
 - Dazzling Purity
 - 94-97 Points, Jeb Dunnuck

2017 Maryline & Christophe Billon Côte Rotie Corendies IGP
 - I Thought That This Was a Cote Rotie
 - Drinks Way, Way Above Its Weight
 - In The Under $30 Rhone Category, This Is Very Hard to Beat
 - Crushed Berries. Granite. Flowers. Violets
 - Raspberry Coulis, Graphite, Camphor, Cassis, Intense Spice
 - Palate: Juicy, Complex, Shimmering
 - Little Crushed Stones
 - White Pepper. Lilacs and Licorice
 - Savory, Meaty, Feral, Salty
 - Insane Freshness

 - Please Do Not Sleep on This

Tony Gwynn and The Art of Consistent Excellence

If you ask Greg Maddux, one of the greatest pitchers of all time, who was the hardest out he faced, he would say Tony Gwynn (Gwynn hit .415 against him over his career and never struck out against him).  Gwynn was one of the most consistently fantastic hitters who ever lived.

 - He hit over .300 for 19 straight seasons. 19 Straight seasons.

 - He hit .324 in 2001 when he was 41 years old.

 - He led the league in batting average 8 times.

 - He led the league in batting average in 1997 when he was 37 years old.   He hit .373 that year.

I'm not sure if Christophe Billon even knows who Tony Gwynn is. But he's pretty much doing the same thing in the Northern Rhone. I've never had a bottle of wine from him that was anything but great.  In any vintage. In any vineyard. With any grape.

Viognier. Basic Cote Rotie. Single Vineyard Rote Rotie. Condrieu. IGP. They're all great.  Great, great, great, great great.

The man has the most basic labels I've ever seen. He could give a fig about the press. Or recognition. He just goes about his business every day making great wine.

A lot of you will rightfully buy the Cote Rotie. It's fantastic and, let's face it, a prestige wine because of the vineyard and the scores.  But please don't miss out on the Corendies. It drinks like a very good Cote Rotie and is just ridiculously inexpensive.

The Wines

Up first is my personal favorite of the two single vineyard Billon Cote Roties. The 2018 Maryline &

Christophe Billon Côte Rotie "La Brocarde" which is also $87.99 a bottle on a 3-pack. Maybe 5-8 years. It is extraordinary and profound Côte Rotie of the highest degree but man does this wine need time. 

So many deep intoxicating aromas I don't know where to begin. Mint, leather, amalgam of berries with so many flowers. My god this wine is floral. There is an engaging lilac/violet and even dandelion thing going on. It is just insane floral as Brocarde I always think is one of the most floral Côte Roties out there. It's intoxicating. Smoke and cassis eventually with air. It's just crazy.  The nose on this wine is absolutely psychotic. Floral and so complex. Classic Brocarde. So smoky (mesquite?), floral and feral. So mineral and full of deep mineralogy like iron and things of that nature. It is so sick, so complex, so nuanced and really is more of a floral/spice thing versus the fruit of the Rozier. The fruit there is blue and cooling. 

On the palate, the fruit is incredibly concentrated - it's almost alive in the mouth. It's so velvety.  Each sip is an experience and it has energy and freshness like nothing else. The energy and freshness in all of the 2018 Côte Rotie is like nothing else. Just incredible. Because with the nuclear levels of fruit one needs energy and freshness which raises the complexity level. I cannot get over the texture of this wine. The tannins are so high class and really really refined. The tannins in La Brocarde are remarkable. They spread so evenly across the palate. So sweet, so juicy.  Sweet velvety blackberry fruit gushes on your palate like an oil geyser with a terrific finish that does not quit.  It is so s delineated and dazzlingly pure. Big blackberry fruit that just explodes in your mouth. It's so sweet and floral. Terrific long finish that is actually legitimately amazing. There is so much tiny berry fruit complexity and it saps down on the the finish. It's masterpiece and a work of art.

"Also with 3% Viognier, the 2018 Côte Rôtie La Brocarde comes from the La Brocarde lieu-dit, which is located in the northern Côte Brune side of the appellation. Its deep purple hue gives way to a rocking Côte Rôtie that has tons of deep blue and black fruits, graphite, crushed rocks, and charred meat-like aromas and flavors. Rich, powerful, and concentrated, it's a bruiser of a Côte Rôtie with fine tannins, terrific purity, and a great finish. It's going to require 4-5 years of bottle age to shed some baby fat, but it's a beauty." 94-97 points, Jeb Dunnuck

Up next is the 2017 Maryline & Christophe Billon Côte Rotie Corendies IGP for $25.99 a bottle on a 4-pack.

The nose. Wow. Crushed berries. Granite.  Flowers. Violets. Savory, raspberry coulis, graphite, camphor, cassis and intense spice. It's wafting, precise and has amazing depth. Little crushed stones. White pepper. Lilacs and licorice. It's so so sick. Super feral. Super floral. Just mesmerizing aromas that are so so fragrant. It has incredible lift but also depth, complexity and nuance. This is why I thought it was Côte-Rotie. It does everything a Côte Rotie does.

The Palate. The palate is the star even with the nose being so epic. Juicy, complex, shimmering with stone-infused minerality and great freshness. Full but elegant and perfectly executed. There is so much fruit it's striking. Super silky tannins and insane lavender, lilac inner mouth aromas. Savory, meaty, feral, salty, saturated and so so pure. Super tiny berry fruit intensity and shocking levels of fruit and amazing structure. Velvety fruit and tannins. So so long and has the length of a Côte-Rotie. Stunning purity. Amazing sweetness and velvety texture. Just silly good. Insanely fresh as well with just so much depth. $24.99!!! Hahaahahah. It's absurd. It really is.  Such well integrated wood with such deep fruit. Just pumps and saturates your palate with all this fruit. Sweet but not too sweet as it's awash in minerality. Incredibly silky tannins that spread out on the exceptionally long finish. So complex already and so so pure. Insane freshness keeps the fruit and minerality pumping on the long finish.

2018 Maryline & Christophe Billon Côte Rotie "La Brocarde" - $89.99 ($263.97 3-Pack) (*Including tariff of $10.68)

2017 Maryline & Christophe Billon Corendies IGP - $27.99

 ($103.96 4-Pack) (*Including tariff of $2.44)