Côte Rôtie Côte Brune, Domaine Jean-Paul Jamet 2020

The 2020 Côte Rôtie Côte Brune is more elegant and finesse-driven than the base cuvée, with medium to full-bodied aromas and flavors as well as brilliant game, minerality, violets, and classic Côte Rôtie smokiness. As with the base Côte Rôtie, it’s not massive but shines for its elegance, purity, and just gorgeous overall balance. This is going to warrant a solid 7-8 years of bottle age, but it’s one heck of a thrilling Côte Rôtie in the making.

Among all the 2020 barrels, the 2020 Cote Rotie Cote Brune stood considerably above all the others (although the Cote Blonde wasn't that far behind). Blessed with incredibly floral, potpourri-like aromatics set against a backdrop of vibrant black raspberry fruit, it's medium to full-bodied and magically rich and intense without being weighty. Enormously long on the finish, it seamlessly combines all the elements of greatness—balance, length, intensity and complexity—into one superlative wine that should drink well for at least two decades.