2014 Côte-Rôtie La Turque Côte-Brune Guigal

Very dark crimson. High-toned liquorice nose - incontrovertibly black in every sense! Juicy and exotic. Really rather fine and very promising.

Super-charming perfume here. Plenty of sweet spice and very fragrant, lifted, lighter red berries, white pepper and mocha. The palate has immense, rich, dark plums, boysenberries and black cherries with a super-fleshy core of ripe, red-plum flavors. Smooth tannins build to a firmer finish, it simultaneously offers commanding power with extreme finesse. This has a lot on offer but really needs some more time to settle in. The pick of the "La La" trio in 2014! Try in 2022.

Moving to the La Turque releases, this cuvée comes from a tiny parcel in the Côte Brune lieu-dit and includes slightly less Viognier than the La Mouline, co-fermented with 7% Viognier. It's always aged the standard four years in new oak. The 2014 Côte Rôtie La Turque is deeper and richer than the 2014 (although it's not as perfumed or exotic) and offers classic cassis, charred meats, violets, and smoky notes in its medium to full-bodied, layered, oh so classic Côte Rôtie style. It's already approachable yet will keep for 2- 3 decades.

Now that it's in bottle, the 2014 Cote Rotie La Turque has exceeded all of my earlier expectations. It's got those classic Côte Rôtie elements on the nose of smoked bacon, olives and violets, seamlessly entwined with supple tannins and raspberry fruit. Medium to full-bodied, it's silky and fine, showing tremendous length and complexity on the finish. On this occasion, La Turque came to the head of the class as the most approachable, exciting and elegant of the three La Las.

Inky ruby. Powerful, deep-pitched aromas of ripe black and blue fruits, violet, incense, exotic spices and minerals. Stains the palate with intense blueberry, cherry liqueur and floral pastille flavors that stretch and become sweeter with aeration. The mix of power and finesse here is fabulous. A strikingly long, youthfully tannic finish shows superb delineation and leaves sweet blue fruit and spicecake qualities behind. Drink: 2024- 2033.

Intense, with charcoal and warm cast iron notes running through the dense core of dark fig and plum paste flavors. The edges show a singed apple wood note, with bittersweet cocoa powder details. Muscular, dense and driven, with the charcoal element giving this a slightly wild edge. Best from 2023 through 2042. 90 cases imported.-J.M.