E. Guigal, Cote Rotie, La Landonne 2012

The utterly perfect 2012 Côte Rôtie La Landonne is the star of three single vineyards in 2012. Possessing an off-the-charts sexiness in its layered, concentrated and full-bodied style, it has a wealth of fruit, ripe tannin, a stacked mid-palate and pedal-to-the-metal notes of black fruits, scorched earth, caramelized meats and crushed rocks. While this cuvée normally needs a decade to become drinkable, there’s a sweetness of fruit here that allows it to offer incredible pleasure even today. Nevertheless, give bottles 5-6 years and enjoy over the following three decades.

Glass-staining ruby. Pungent, spice- and mineral-accented aromas of ripe dark berries, smoky bacon, candied licorice, violet and Moroccan spices. Juicy and densely packed on the palate, offering impressively concentrated black and blue fruit and floral pastille flavors sharpened by a hint of peppery spices. Becomes sweeter and more lively as it opens up, picking up sexy cola and vanilla nuances. Shows outstanding depth as well as vivacity, finishing sappy and extremely long, with fine-grained tannins adding shape and grip.