Two Incredible Values from Expensive AOCs: Spectacular Condrieu, Cote Rotie, Each Under $42

 From The Desolate, Barren, Rocky, Steep Slopes in the Far North of the Rhone

 - A Story of Struggle

 - As Old School As Cote Rotie Can Get

 - Terrific Sun Exposure

 - Wines That Taste of the Struggle of Their Birth

 - Never Exported to the US

 - Almost No Exposure Internationally So These Wines Are Incredibly Affordable

 - Direct from the Estate - Would Be MUCH More 3 Tier

2019 Andre Francois Cote-Rotie "Gerine"

 - Stunning, Wild Nose - Smells like Ancient Côte Rotie

 - Superb Spices and Very Floral

 - Kiss of Honey

 - Some Gaminess

 - Super Fragrant Wine

 - Palate: Super Juicy, Complex

 - Incredible Freshness

 - Fruit is Gorgeous, Loads of Dark Berry and Cherry

 - Very Geeky - Gravelly, Exquisitely Mineral

 - Terrific Price for Incredibly Well Made Cote Rotie

 - "Traditional Cote-Rotie" - John Livingston Learmouth

 - Only $42.99!

2018 Andre Francois Condrieu "La Maladière"

 - What Condrieu Should Be (And So Rarely Is)

 - The Gorgeous, Classic Florality of Condrieu

 - Melon Fruit, Ripe Apricot, Citrus and Pear

 - Serious Depth and Substance to the Nose

 - Palate: Beautifully Ripe and Juicy; Awesome Complexity

 - Tangerine/Citrus Flavor As It Aerates

 - Balance is Wonderful and it's So Nervy

 - Near Elite Level Deliciousness

 - Only 700 Bottles Made

 - Only $40.99 for a Classic Example of Condrieu

A Classic Fass Value Play

Offers like today's is why Fass Selections was started. We have an incredible producer that is not yet recognized. The wines are bought direct from the estate. You also have 2 great years in the Northern Rhone. The result is an offer with 2 incredible values. These wines should cost a lot more money. A lot.

A Story of Beauty and of Struggle

It's a haul to get to Côte Rotie from Hermitage. They vineyards are so dramatic, barren, rocky and steep. The skies are so blue. You're just in awe that vines grow and flourish here. One would think that it is an idyllic existence.

Alas, the the father at the Andre Francois estate had a car accident and is still hobbled by it.I politely asked him how he was when I arrived, and he sardonically said, look at me, that's how I am. And he laughed. He came all the way down the wet windy cellar stairway in his crutches and tasted in the cellar with us.

His daughter, Nancy, has taken over the winery and has done a masterful job, under her father's watchful eye.

This is what the wines are. The story of struggle, yet with beauty emerging. These are the farthest thing from modern, pumped up Cote Rotie that one could find.

I love these wines and they are extraordinarily inexpensive for how incredible they are. The story of the visit is as good as the wines.

The Wines

2019 Cote Rotie remains the sweet spot of the incredible 2019 vintage. I still haven't had a bad one and it has lifted normally very good wines to the level of profound. Well today I have a Cote Rotie that is unlike any other I've sold. 

Today I have the 2019 Andre Francois Cote-Rotie "Gerine" for $41.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. This is our best value Côte Rotie If one has opened the 2015 Peintre Côte Rotie from Andre Francois that is a superstar wine and exhibits the kinky, exotic and rich side of the vintage countered by the superb freshness that 2019 brings. This is more rocky, more gravelly, more geeky and just so wonderful. It's more of a geek's Côte Rotie while they Peintre is more of a Côte Rotie that even your CA Syrah friends will love. I love how relaxed Nancy is as I asked her what the soil is here. She just said rocks. Lots of them. My kind of winemaker. 

Stunning, wild nose. Hugely mineral. I mean massively. Smells like ancient Côte Rotie. Something made in ancient times. Superb spices and very floral. Fresh and so animal with intense gaminess. Also huge floral component. It's a super fragrant wine. The combo of it all makes it seem more like a scene in a forest with with loads of wild flowers, animals grazing, sun shining, and a fire burning in the distance. The spice from maybe a few sticks of burning incense and the sun beating down on the rocks that are in sections of the dirt. It's a stunning nose and I can only imagine age will make it even more stunning. 

On the palate, it's a super juicy wine with obvious complexity. So clean. But also with top notch elegance and finesse which for me is what sets Côte Rotie apart. Côte Rotie has to be elegant and it always is when it's good. The fruit is gorgeous and so precise and there is lots of it. Loads of dark berry and cherry. Bitter cherry and sweet cherry at the same time is such a nice contrast. Less rich than the Peintre and more structured and crunchy. Really, really refined. Long and so so juicy. 

Finish is a mix of granite and then it goes hard to game. So savory. Dense and complex with loads of structure to burn. This is wild, refined and utterly classical old school Côte Rotie that needs a lot of air air will age. 

I leave you with John Livingston Learmouth's 4 star review of the 2015. It's a great one. 

"... dark colour. There is sweet furnishing on the nose, blackberry with a slice of prune, and a rose hip accompaniment, musky perfume, some oaking. This is dense, is a good, traditional Côte-Rôtie with a lunge of dark berry mass and prominent tannins, crunch time from them. This is a real Rôtie of yore - take your time. It's solid, holds a lot of matter. It ends on ripe blueberry fruit, licorice, and there are good iron-mineral flashes through it. It's genuine, not for white coated drinkers, is still wild now. From 2021. 2033-35" - JLL (2015)

Up next I've got the very rare, beautiful Condrieu the 2018 Andre Francois Condrieu La Maladière for $40.99 a bottle on a 3-pack. It's a beautiful bottle of Condrieu and so so intense. They only make 700 or so bottles so this is super limited.

Amazing nose. Floral but also intensely mineral. Yellow fruits, some apricot. So, so aromatic but in an elegant way - it's not at all vulgar like much Condrieu can be. Lots of melon fruit along with citrus and pear. Super lemony and very clean. Not oaky at all with such nice clarity and energy to it. There is serious depth and substance to the nose. I love Condrieu when done right and if you do as well you'll adore this nose and this wine.

Dynamic palate that is beautifully ripe and juicy with just awesome complexity. Huge pear and peach that is all kinds of juicy. Super intense honeysuckle mineral finish with terrific sap and freshness. It's rich but also there is huge substance and texture from the tannins and terrific acidity. The tangerine/citrus flavor develops as it aerated and becomes so present on the finish. The balance is wonderful and it's so nervy. Not rich, cloying or vulgar like Condrieu can be. A beauty. So so stylish.

“Pale green-hued gold. Vibrant citrus and pit fruit scents, along with suggestions of violet, Thai basil and dusty minerals. Silky and round on the palate, offering juicy white peach, pear and Meyer lemon flavors that tighten up slowly on the back half. Shows excellent clarity and floral thrust on a long, sappy finish that displays no rough edges.” - 92 Points, Josh Raynolds, 2016

2019 Andre Francois Cote-Rotie "Gerine" - $44.99 ($171.96 4-Pack)

2018 Andre Francois Condrieu "La Maladière" - $42.99

 ($163.96 4-Pack)