Delas Frères Côte-Rôtie La Landonne
Rhône, France
Vintage:2023 (Current)
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Reviews
Wine Spectator 94 Points
Big-boned and suave, this delivers wave after wave of salted plum, blackberry paste, sweet earth and ground anise brushed in toasty cedar. Salty tones of soy and brine seamlessly stream through, encased in cast iron mineral firmness. Best from 2028 through 2040.
The Wine Palate 97 Points
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2023 Cote-Rotie La Landonne storms out of the glass with powerful notes of juicy black plums, ripe blueberries, and clove oil, followed by hints of licorice, wild sage, and candied violets, with a waft of charcuterie. The medium-bodied palate is dense with pepper-laced black and blue fruit flavors, supported by velvety tannins and bags of freshness, finishing long and fragrant. This is made from 100% Syrah
The Tasting Panel Magazine 100 Points
New leather and graphite gives this elegant, aromatic, and satisfyingly mout-filling Syrah an almost primal character. Lavender smooths out notes of salted meat as bright black cherry bathes in sweet, sun-drenched soil and coffee slathers the palate.
The Wine Advocate 97 Points
With a ripe profile, the 2023 Côte-Rôtie La Landonne unfurls from the glass with a complex, delicate and racy bouquet of tapenade, spices, dark berries and pepper. Medium- to full-bodied, structured and concentrated, it’s built around a lively, tensile core of fruit framed by filigreed, sweet tannins that lead to a long, beautifully spicy and ethereal finish. Combining power and precision, it marries the telluric force of the terroir with precise tannins and a silky mouthfeel that has become a hallmark of Delas’s style in recent years.
Jeb Dunnuck 95-97+ Points
Based on 100% Syrah from a Grand Cru terroir in the heart of this great appellation and raised in new and used barrels, the 2023 Côte Rôtie La Landonne sports a deep purple hue as well as cassis and mulberry fruits intermixed with scorched earth, pepper, violets, and blood orange. It's medium to full-bodied, has a pure, seamless mouthfeel, brilliant tannins, integrated acidity, and a great, great finish. It's very much in the clean, straight, flawlessly balanced style of this estate today.
Vinous Media 93 Points
The complex 2023 Côte-Rôtie La Landonne opens with pronounced black plum, stone dust, lightly perfumed cedar and tints of violets. Wrapped around fine-grained tannins, the 2023 is a medium-bodied and focused La Landonne, checking out with vivid lift and precision on the lean finish.
JamesSuckling.com 97 Points
A giant Cote-Rotie, but this is a giant of subtlety and refinement. The spectrum of aromas is incredibly complex, the forest berry, spice, savory and mineral elements weaving a great tapestry. Enormous concentration is married to a mind-blowingly silky texture that extends right through the super-long and precise finish. Drink from release.
Overview
Côte-Rôtie is the northernmost appellation of the Northern Rhône, with slopes reaching 320 meters in altitude and inclines as steep as 60%. At the heart of this vertiginous landscape, Delas Frères vinifies a parcel located on the lower part of the slope. where Syrah reaches its finest levels of ripeness. The clay-limestone soil is composed of schistous arenas rich in iron oxides, mixed with fragments of mica-schist, bringing the wine depth, tension, color, and structure. La Landonne is an exceptional single-parcel cuvée that expresses the singularity of a rare terroir. It embodies a dense and sensual Syrah with a majestic presence, and is a wine of fullness, both radiant and refined, combining power and finesse in a floral and spicy expression.
Winemaking
The harvest is carried out by hand. Once destemmed, the berries are transferred by gravity into truncated conical stainless steel vats. Gentle extraction is carried out mainly during the early stages of fermentation, using carefully calibrated pump-overs and punch-downs. After pressing, the wine is racked and transferred to barrels. Malolactic fermentation takes place in oak barrels, where the first phase of ageing occurs over six months, with 20% new oak. The second phase of ageing continues in 25 hectolitre foudres for 12 months, in order to bring breadth and balance without excessive oak influence. The cuvée is then blended back into stainless steel tanks for a final three-month refinement before bottling.
Tasting Notes
The wine‘s deep color is underscored by plummy hues. A complex nose shows deep, fruity aromas with hints of licorice and roasted coffee. Endowed with a dense and silky tannic structure, this is a full, fleshy wine that provides an ample and generous palate. Its lasting finish speaks of considerable ageing potential.
Harvest Notes
After a rainy end to 2022, an exceptionally dry winter and early spring led to early and uniform budburst. The wetter late spring, with no mistral winds, was offset by favorable flowering conditions, accelerating the vegetative cycle. Veraison progressed steadily in late July. The August heatwave hastened ripening in parts of the wineyard, sometimes resulting in heterogeneity between parcels.
Food Pairing
Roast pigeon, beef wellington, seven-hour lamb, wild boar stew, noble mushrooms.
Technical Information
Varietals: 100% Syrah
Aging: 21 months