Rene Rostaing Cote Blonde is for me, the best wine from Rostaing. It’s produced from a blend that is usually 95% Syrah and 5% Viognier.
The grapes are co-fermented. The vineyards are planted in terroir that people in the region call arzel. Arzel is a poor, mineral laden soil with deposits of silex and mica on a steep hillside. The vines used to produce this beauty are often more than 50 years of age.
The grapes are partially destemmed. About 35% to 50% of the stems are removed. The remainder of the grapes are whole bunch fermented in stainless steel vats. Rene Rostaing is not a big believer in using too much new oak for the aging, which means that on average they use 10% new, French oak barrels.
The remainder of the harvest is aged in demi-muids. Rene Rostaing Cote Blonde is an exotic, opulent wine with great character and charm. It’s not inexpensive. But the truth is, for a Cote Rotie of this quality, it’s really priced at a fair level.
Rene Rostaing Cote Blonde remains the hardest to find in the marketplace and most collectible of all their wines. In fact, they only produce close to an average of 350 cases of this delicious, Cote Rotie in most vintages. It is a wine to buy as soon as it hits the market, as it becomes more expensive and harder to find, rather quickly.
