Rene Rostaing, Cote Rotie, Cote Blonde 2004

94 points John Gilman The 2004 Rostaing Côte Blonde is another absolutely stellar wine, with the vintage’s slightly cooler aspects having produced a classic expression of this great terroir. The beautiful bouquet offers up scents of cassis, nutskin, raw cocoa, black pepper, gamebirds, incipient notes of sous bois and a very complex base of soil. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, pure and gorgeously complex, with fine-grained tannins, lovely mid-palate depth, good acids and lovely length and grip. In contrast to the 2006, which hails from a slightly riper vintage and is really delicious to drink today, the 2004 could use another three or four years in the cellar to let a bit more of its tannin melt away and the fruit to fully emerge from the core and take center stage. It is a beautiful wine that is almost ready for primetime drinking, but not quite there today. (9/2014) 94 points Int'l Wine Cellar Bright red. Explosive, intensely perfumed bouquet encompasses smoky re