Tasting Notes
Vinous 97-100
Bright dark ruby, the deepest of these ’99s. More sauvage aromas of black fruits, leather, game and black pepper; classic raw syrah berries. Extremely dense, full and sappy; this saturates every millimeter of the palate. A remarkably glyceral, thick wine with great clarity of flavor and verve. Extraordinary reverberating finish throws off notes of black fruits, brown spices, pepper and earth.
Robert Parker 100
For drinking today, it doesn’t get better than the 1999 Cote Rotie la Landonne (the ’99 la Mouline maybe). A monumental Cote Rotie, it offers an incredible perfume of cassis, licorice, smoked game and roasted herbs (among other things), full-bodied richness, a seamless texture and a finish that just won’t quit. While a massive wine, with incredible concentration and density, this beauty is lively, elegant and weightless, with sweet, polished tannin. Perfumed and upfront on this occasion, it was served blind at the end of the retrospective and I actually thought it was the 1990.
Anticipated maturity: 2015-2030

