The wines of Michel & Stéphane
Ogier, Rhône
A seminar presented by Zubair Mohammed of Raeburn Fine Wines
in Edinburgh.
7th March 2009
In my
state of blissful ignorance of Ogier, I didn't realise I was so
supposed to be wetting myself about the prospect of the Belle
Hélène,
but - like all the wines - it delivered.
2007 Viognier “La Rosine”, VdP de Collines
des Rhodaniennes (£13)
This
has rather nice tropical fruits on the nose, which shows remarkable
restraint, avoiding the blowsiness of many viogniers. Very good
restraint on the palate too: there's an unusual delicacy to this which
helps make it rather delicious. 90/100
2001 "La Rosine", VdP de Collines des Rhodaniennes
(£13)
The
nose has pleasant gamey fruit with some farmyard stink and a bit of a
cocoa husk character. It's light and uncomplicated on the palate. Easy
and clean with a real savouriness. Nice elegance. 89/100
When
Zubair said it was 100% syrah, I could resist a bit of on-table
blending, adding a few drops of the viognier - probably no more than 1%
or 2% and it really improved it I thought.
2005 Côte Rôtie Reserve du Domaine
(£33)
A
very deep, almost inky colour. Very deep, brooding black fruits
dominate the nose, which feels a touch closed. Very rich attack - very
rounded with a super tannic structure from good ripe tannins. A very
clean wine indeed with great focus. It really promises well for the
future. 91-94/100
2004 “L’ame Soeur” Terres de
Seyssuel VdP Collines des Rhodaniennes (£17)
A
hugely attractive nose with lovely sweet ripe fruit and an elegant
floral character. Young, fresh attack. Good structure, feeling already
fairly integrated. Quite a light fragrant character. Not the most
convincing of this set of Ogier wines for me, and as such it looks a
bit pricey to me. 88/100
2004 Côte Rôtie Reserve du Domaine
(£32)
Deep,
brooding, meaty black fruits dominate the nose, though there is just a
little bit of a floral life in there too. Very fine palate with some
really nice, elegant red and black fruit. There's a firm tannic
structure which lends a lovely spice on the finish. Still young, but
very seductive. 92-94/100
2004 Côte Rôtie “Belle
Hélène” (£96)
Very
deep black fruits on the nose, with gorgeous chocolate violet creams an
coffee notes. It's big and powerful on the palate, yet somehow still
seems to have an elegance. Is it the name and some sort of
auto-suggestion, but is there a taste of pear on the finish? Great
finesse. 93/100
2001 Côte Rôtie “Les
Embruns” (£47)
A
much simpler nose than the Belle Hélène which
overall rather dominates
one's impression of the Embruns. A lovely open, wide palate. Very
elegant. There's a really fine tannic structure, but overall it feels
very integrated. But still needs time. 91/100
I had had the red La Rosine before, and for completeness include those notes again here:
2002 Syrah La Rosine, Vin de Pays des Collines Rhôdaniennes, Michel & Stéphane Ogier
This has a sweet black fruit nose and very vibrant fruit on the palate. Very young, very simple, very light tannins. Good.
On
its own a rather unexceptional, very simple wine, but it worked
exceedingly well with the Ledbury's venison dish and all its sweet
flavours (Fillet of Venison, slow roasted in pepper and juniper with beetroot, parsnip and quince ) 84/100
(27/11/2005)
2002 Syrah La Rosine, Vin de Pays des Collines Rhôdaniennes, Michel & Stéphane Ogier
A young blackberry-mulberry nose. Very young flavours with lots of
bright berry fruit. Youngish, simple flavours. Very satisfying wine.
Good/Very Good. 86/100
(16/1/2006)
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Last updated: 30 December 2008