Allen Meadows, more familiarly known as Burghound, was once asked what wines he likes to drink most from outside of Burgundy. His answer was Côte-Rôtie. I've heard this kind of answer again and again from wine drinkers who love Burgundy.
No other region can produce wines that are closer to Burgundy in terms of weight, texture and elegance. If you like Burgundy, you almost certainly like Côte-Rôtie.
If you want just one way of explaining this Burgundy affinity — and of understanding Côte-Rôtie more generally — it is this: Côte-Rôtie is the Northern Rhône in extremis. Take everything you know about the Northern Rhône, exaggerate it a little bit, and you end up with Côte-Rôtie. This will be a constant theme as we go about unpacking the AOC for you.
Geography: Côte-Rôtie is in the North of the Northern Rhône
Yes, the Rhône does not get more Northern than Côte-Rôtie. It is at the very top, the northern end of the "string" that I describe in my overview of the Northern Rhône.
In fact, it is so far north that it is remarkably close to Beaujolais. Ampuis, the principal village of Côte-Rôtie, is as close to Meursault as it is to Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
This is all reflected in the wine itself. Even more than the other wines of the Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie acts and tastes like a wine of the North. It is tense and acidic. It translates terroir more than fruit.
Grape Varieties: Syrah Of Course, but with a Twist
Although the Northern Rhône grows only Syrah for red wine, it is occasionally blended with white grapes. This is permitted pretty much throughout the Northern Rhône, including Saint-Joseph and Hermitage. But they almost never actually add white grapes to those wines.
Côte-Rôtie is different. Here, up to 20% of Viognier may be added to Côte-Rôtie. Unlike in Hermitage and Saint-Joseph, in Côte-Rôtie this red-white blending is relatively commonplace.
And it makes a big difference. Further south, in Hermitage and Saint-Joseph, the white grapes are Marsanne and Roussanne. Neither grape has the aromatic intensity — very floral, very fruity — of Viognier. Viognier is part of the explanation of why Côte-Rôtie is lighter in weight, and more "Northern" in personality.
Climate
Temperature
The main reason Côte-Rôtie is more "Northern" in personality is because it is cooler. The average annual temperature in Côte-Rôtie is around 11.9 degrees Celsius. That's closer to the average temperature of Beaune, in the heart of Burgundy's Côte d'Or, where the average temperature is 10.8 degrees, than it is to Avignon, the heart of the Southern Rhône, where the average temperature is 13.7 degrees. When it comes to climate, Côte-Rôtie is definitely more northern than southern.
Slopes and Winds
Cool temperatures means we are at the margin of where Syrah can ripen. You need every ounce of warmth you can muster to get the grapes to that perfect point of balance where you have ripe fruit that remains in tension with its acidity and tannin.
In Côte-Rôtie they achieve this through very steep — up to 60 degrees steep — slopes that face the sun. "Côte-Rôtie" is French for "roasted slope," and that is a reference to those sun-soaked south-facing slopes. The slope runs roughly northeast to southwest, very close to what you find in Grand Cru Burgundies. In Burgundy, the lean is a little more toward east; in Côte-Rôtie, a little more toward south — Syrah needs more sun.
Temperature is also affected by the winds. The Northern Rhône is frequently afflicted by the bise, a cooling wind that blows in from the north. By locating on hillsides that face south, these cooling winds are blocked, and the grapes can ripen…just.
History: The Story of the Northern Rhône, but on Steroids
Wine history can be boring, but there is one thing you need to know about Côte-Rôtie: its story is an extreme version of the Northern Rhône's.
Côte-Rôtie Almost Disappears
The Northern Rhône, as I wrote in my overview, went into a period of substantial decline after the ravages of phylloxera, two World Wars, and the Great Depression. Côte-Rôtie almost disappeared entirely.
In the late 1940s, the AOC of Côte-Rôtie was practically worthless. Few producers even bothered to put its name on a label. Even though the AOC had already been introduced, most people continued to sell their wine as cheap Vin de Table. So cheap, in fact, that most farmers stopped producing wine and switched to crops like apricots, which yielded five times as much revenue for the same amount of land.
It didn't help that Côte-Rôtie is practically a suburb of Lyon and there were always new things to build. Why grow worthless grapes when you can just sell your land to a developer with visions of a new gas station?
I have not seen precise estimates of how small Côte-Rôtie became during this period, but it could have been as little as 50 hectares of wine production — the size of a single mid-size château in Bordeaux.
Côte-Rôtie Roars Back to Life
Today, Côte-Rôtie is roughly six times that size — about 320 hectares. It is more than twice the size of Hermitage, or roughly the size of Chambolle-Musigny and Vosne-Romanée combined.
As it has grown in size, so it has grown in price. New releases of the very top Côte-Rôties — from Guigal — cost as much as top Hermitage, several hundred dollars a bottle. At the bottom end, the cheapest bottles in the U.S. can be found for around $60, just a little below the starting point for Hermitage. A lot of great Côte-Rôtie can be purchased today for about $80 or $100 — a pretty good value, compared to equally-priced Burgundies.
Gentaz
But it's impossible to tell this story without referring to Gentaz-Dervieux. Gentaz made a small amount of Côte-Rôtie in a fastidiously traditional manner (he was rumored to age his wine in some barrels that were a century old) up until his retirement in 1993. He sold them for very modest prices, and I have friends who purchased them in the 1990s from his importer, Kermit Lynch, for under $50 per bottle.
Today those bottles are worth $3,000 each or more. Partly, this has to do with the diminishing supply — he stopped making wine in 1993, and there can't be many left. But tiny supply only results in stratospheric prices when the demand is there.
And it's on the demand side that the Gentaz story is so interesting. For years, Robert Parker and other critics were telling us that bigger, riper, plusher, oakier wines were better. They got better scores. This helped drive up the prices of Guigal's Côte-Rôties, which very much came to be made in this style. (And how could I get so far in this history of Côte-Rôtie barely mentioning Étienne Guigal? That guy, with his commitment to quality and his excellent marketing skills, played a huge role in Côte-Rôtie's post-war recovery.)
But anyway, Gentaz's wines weren't at all like Guigal's. They were traditional. Lighter. More "northern." Not oaky at all. Old-fashioned. At some point in the 2000s, it started to dawn on people that this is how they liked their Côte-Rôtie. And they wanted to drink Gentaz's wines really badly.
This, I think, is the whole key to understanding why Côte-Rôtie has become so successful. American taste, and maybe even global taste, has veered away from the "Parker palate" toward a taste for elegance. Côte-Rôtie, situated in the perfect place to produce elegant Syrah, has reaped the benefits.
A Golden Age
So Gentaz takes us into Côte-Rôtie's golden age — too golden for many pocketbooks, you might think. Fortunately, you don't have to fork over $3,000 for admission. Plenty of producers are making wines today that echo the magic that Gentaz was able to conjure. I will profile some favorites a bit later.
Soils: Granite, of course, but What Else?
In your first lesson on Côte-Rôtie, you usually hear that it is all about Côte Brune and Côte Blonde. These terms are sometimes used loosely to refer to entire slopes, each consisting of many different vineyards. But look at a vineyard map of Côte-Rôtie, and you'll see that they are actually the names of specific sites, and that these sites comprise only a tiny amount of vineyard land in the middle of the AOC.
But the two sites — aside from being among the very best — do stand at a crucial dividing point. Master this, and you unlock the key to understanding Côte-Rôtie's soils.
Essentially, the Côte Brune, and everything north of it, consist of schist-based soils. The Côte Blonde, and everything south of it, are based on granite.
The schist soils give you more powerful, tannic, darker wines.
The granite soils give you lighter wines — both in weight and in color — that are more aromatic.
Here is one way to think about it. Condrieu, where they make 100% white wines from Viognier, is located just to the south of Côte-Rôtie. The AOC police necessarily had to put a hard border between Condrieu and Côte-Rôtie, but the laws of nature — and terroir — follow a continuum. So the further south you go in Côte-Rôtie, the more likely you are to find terroir suitable to Viognier. Indeed, almost all the Viognier in Côte-Rôtie is grown in the southern Côte Blonde, half of the AOC. So the further south you go, the more the terroir is suitable for lighter, more aromatic wines — until you cross the legal boundary and suddenly such wines are mandated.
There are details of course — varying amounts of mica, feldspar, gravel, and so on — but master the schist/granite distinction and you will get through just about any conversation on the subject.
Top Sites
Like Burgundy, and most other French wine regions, the Côte-Rôtie can be divided into villages. By far the most important of them is…
Ampuis
Ampuis is in the middle of Côte-Rôtie. It is the AOC's biggest and most important town. (Though it really isn't very big.)
It is also home to Côte-Rôtie's oldest, most historic vineyard sites AND it is the village through which the tributary Reynard runs and flows into the Rhône. The Reynard is significant because it is the geologic divide between the schist soils of the northern half of the AOC, and the granite soils of the south.
Côte Brune
This is the greatest vineyard in the northern, "Côte Brune" side of the AOC. Yes, it has plenty of schist, as well as iron and manganese in the soils (you also find manganese in Moulin-à-Vent in Beaujolais and Brunate in Barolo; it enhances the wine's structure). Those supplements help give the soil a brown color, and hence its name.
Unlike most of the AOC, the Côte Brune faces due south. It gets lots of sunshine, and therefore produces ripe grapes to balance out the intense tannins. The wines it produces are marvelous. Gentaz's wines were from here (his vines are now worked by Rostaing). Jamet has a plot here, where he makes what could be the greatest Côte-Rôtie of today. Guigal's La Turque is also in the Côte Brune.
Côte Blonde
On the other side of Reynard is the almost equally esteemed Côte Blonde. Right away, it is clear that you are on the other side of a great geologic divide. You have granite. You have Viognier. Therefore, the tannins are softer, the fruits redder, and the floral notes pronounced.
Like the Côte Brune, portions of this site face south — there is a reason that this is the historic core of Côte-Rôtie, and it is that these were the sites where it is easiest to ripen grapes — but a portion also faces southeast. Many of the AOC's most recognized names have vineyards here, including Rostaing and Barge. Guigal's La Mouline comes from here.
Chavaroche
Not the most famous site, but important to us because Bernard Levet produces a single-vineyard Côte-Rôtie from here (more on the producer below). It borders Côte Brune (near its top) and shares the brown color. But here the schist is more pure, and the slopes start to tilt southwest. These little things matter. It produces very fine but sturdy wines — Levet's importer Neil Rosenthal calls the wine produced here "ferocious."
La Landonne
Go upstream from Côte Brune and you soon get to La Landonne, just where there is a slight curve in the river. As a result of this curve, you start to get into vines that really point the classic southeast: south means sunshine, east means the gentle morning sun.
Your soils here are rich in schist and iron ore, and you get wines that almost exaggerate what you'd expect from the schist side of Côte-Rôtie's divide: dark-fruited, brooding wines. Besides Guigal's La Landonne, you find a great single-vineyard from Rostaing, as well as vines that serve Jamet and Xavier Gérard.
Côte Rozier
Côte Rozier, and its extension above, Rozier (yeah, same name but without the "Côte" — just as confusing as the "Brouilly — Côte de Brouilly" situation in Beaujolais), form the last vineyards in Ampuis before you get to the village of Verenay. We are now most definitely facing southeast — and I really mean "face" in the vertical sense of the word, as here you find some of the steepest sites in all of Côte-Rôtie.
You still have classic schist Syrah, with loads of tannins, but not quite the same degree of finesse as you get just slightly to the south. Still, you get some first-division wine here, including Ogier's Belle Hélène, and also grapes that are used by Jamet, Guigal, Bonnefond, and Gangloff.
Verenay
Verenay is the next village upstream from Ampuis, though its small collection of buildings sits not directly on the Rhône but on the other side of the N86, the autoroute that runs between the river and the vine-covered slopes, and then cuts through the middle of Ampuis. The vineyards above Verenay produce big, long-lived Côte-Rôties.
Grandes Places
Grandes Places is Verenay's top site. It is rocky and windy and southeast-facing. It has bits that are flat and bits that are very steep. As you would expect north of the Côte Brune, there is plenty of schist in the soils. This site produces long-lived, powerful wines that are not without finesse and fine tannins. Clusel-Roch makes a 100% Grandes Places that is quite exceptional.
Viallière
This is a name you see a fair bit, as the site is about 10 hectares and lots of bottles bear its name. It neighbors Grandes Places and its terroir is similar, though Viallière is particularly steep. The wines are generally slightly more approachable than Grandes Places, but this is a big place and there is considerable variation among its sectors, with some areas that point south and some that point east. Clusel-Roch is again a big name here, and you also have vines farmed by Rostaing and Gaillard.
Tupin
Go in the other direction from Ampuis — downriver, or southwest — and you get to the commune of Tupin, or more fully Tupin-et-Semons. The village itself is actually up on the plateau. Its vines descend to the roadside of the N86.
Here you are approaching Condrieu, and this is apparent from the soils, where you find loose granite and sand. It is also apparent in the vineyards, where you find more Viognier planted among the Syrah vines.
The wines produced are among the lightest and most aromatic of Côte-Rôtie. In Burgundy terms, you might think of Tupin as Chambolle-Musigny (while Verenay could be Gevrey-Chambertin and Ampuis, the village with everything, is clearly Vosne-Romanée).
There are no big-name vineyards here, though Jean-Michel Stéphan makes a beautiful single-vineyard Côte-Rôtie from one site, called simply Coteaux de Tupin. Other important growers down here include Vernay (who's not from Verenay) and Duclaux.
St-Cyr
Lastly we have St-Cyr, at the far north of the AOC, past Verenay. This was not part of the original AOC, designated in 1940, but added on in the 1960s. Like many of the add-ons in the Northern Rhône, it is distinctly inferior. And now we are really close to Lyon, so many folks really did figure that a new gas station was the way to go. Anyway, you are in the schist half of the AOC, but the wines here are not as structured as you might expect, though the schist does come through in the blackness of the fruit.
Top Producers
Domaine Jamet
If I had to pick one producer to provide me with all my Côte-Rôtie needs, and price were no object, it would be Jamet. The wines have a purity and elegance that rivals everyone else making wine today in the AOC. If Chave were to make Côte-Rôtie, the wines would taste like this.
The brothers Jean-Paul and Jean-Luc Jamet split the domaine in 2013 — a decade and change ago now — and the two estates have settled into separate identities. The original Domaine Jamet is run by Jean-Paul, his wife Corinne, and their son Loïc, who is increasingly the visible face of the next generation. The house style remains the AOC's reference.
Jean-Luc set up his own Vignoble Jean-Luc Jamet with his wife Évelyne and son Benoit. His main wine is "Les Terrasses," with a rare "Cuvée Pirate" emerging in some vintages. The early Jean-Luc bottlings were uneven, but the wines have steadied into a real consistent quality. Prices are still quite a bit lower than the original Domaine's — for now, a buying opportunity.
Domaine Gilles Barge (now Julien Barge)
Confining myself to under-$100 bottles, Barge would be my one choice if I only had one. They follow traditional practices that would not have seemed out-of-place in Gentaz's cellar and have holdings in the top terroirs around Ampuis. The domaine has now passed from Gilles to his son Julien — the transition culminated in the 2016 vintage, and from that point on the labels bear Julien Barge's name, though the house is still widely called "Gilles Barge" out of habit.
The lineup is now three Côte-Rôties. The blended Cuvée du Plessy is the everyday bottle, drawn primarily from old vines in the du Plessy parcel of the Côte Blonde plus Lancement and Boucharey — fantastic and fairly priced, and you can enjoy it without much cellaring. Le Combard is a newer single-vineyard from a steep, full-south parcel at the southern end of Ampuis that had been abandoned since the First World War. The flagship is Côte Brune, from 40-to-60-year-old vines on the brown schist of the upper slope — only about 400 cases a year for the world. Cuvée du Plessy is the entry point; Côte Brune remains the showpiece; Le Combard is the newer wine to chase.
Domaine René Rostaing
Rostaing, having inherited vines from both Gentaz and Albert Dervieux Thaize (another traditionalist legend, whose 1983 is the greatest Côte-Rôtie I've ever tasted, ahead of even top vintage Gentaz), was perhaps destined for greatness. René's son Pierre took over fully in 2015, and the wines have been sensational ever since.
Pierre works 7.5 hectares across 14 climats including La Landonne, Côte Blonde, La Viallière, and Côte Brune. Style: 100% whole cluster, long élevage, less than 15% new wood. Single-vineyards from Côte Blonde and La Landonne are special; the Ampodium is a superb blend designed for earlier drinking.
Guigal
This is a must-know producer, primarily because they produce about a third of the AOC's wines through both contracts and their own holdings. They are also hugely important for the historical reasons mentioned above. With their "La La's" — the three single-vineyard wines they release called La Landonne, La Turque, and La Mouline — they have produced vintage after vintage of monumental wines that have won top praise in the international press.
All that said, they also deserve criticism for a style that is overtly ripe and oaky, and for release prices that are all but prohibitive for wine-lovers of ordinary means. Marcel Guigal still leads, though Philippe Guigal (Étienne's grandson) is increasingly the public face of the next generation. The La La's continue to land 99–100 scores; the price arc continues upward. Recent vintages have been toned down so do keep an eye on this producer.
Domaine Bernard Levet
Levet is another traditionalist who makes some of Côte-Rôtie's most soulful wines. For years, they were perhaps a little too soulful for some, often showing funky and bacterial notes. Bernard's daughter Agnès took over in 2015 and the wines are now noticeably cleaner and purer without losing the soulful core. They remain reasonably priced and while they do not have quite as classical a profile as, say, Barge's, they are terrific and highly recommended.
Benetière
I hate to put a name like Benetière on this kind of list because he is so small production and culty that it's super hard to find the wines. He combines old-school techniques with Burgundy-like purity and focus. The Cordeloux is a blend from the southern, granitic portion of Côte-Rôtie, and is a wine that you have a chance of finding. Dolium comes from the Côte Brune, and he makes only a barrel, so it is almost impossible to find.
Clusel-Roch
This producer specializes in the schist soils of Verenay, and makes wines that marry the natural power of the village with a surprisingly elegant, floral touch. The single-vineyard from Grandes Places is the key wine here, and definitely a wine to cellar in all but the disaster vintages.
Xavier Gérard
Xavier inherited his father's vines in 2012, and then blew everyone's minds at a Decanter blind tasting of the 2015 vintage, besting all the top names of Côte-Rôtie. Since then, Xavier has been delivering quality wines and is now firmly an established mid-tier reference. The style is down the middle: elegant and polished, with good intensity but no excess. His holdings are in good sites in Ampuis, and his village blend is an excellent go-to source for reasonably priced Côte-Rôtie. He has a single-vineyard bottling from La Landonne that is extremely rare.
Pierre-Jean Villa
Pierre-Jean Villa is one of the most exciting newer-generation names in the Northern Rhône. Based in Chavanay but with significant holdings across Côte-Rôtie, Saint-Joseph, Condrieu, and Crozes, Villa makes wines that sit in a sweet spot between traditional structure and modern fruit purity. The Côte-Rôtie "Esprit de Famille" is his flagship; "Carmina" is also worth chasing. We are particularly excited to be hosting an event with Pierre-Jean this year — subscribers to the newsletter will hear first.
François Villard
Not to be confused with Pierre-Jean Villa, François Villard is a separate (and well-established) multi-AOC producer based in Saint-Michel-sur-Rhône. Best known for Condrieu, he also makes solid Côte-Rôtie and Saint-Joseph. The style is pure and focused; the prices are fair.
I could go on. Unlike Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie has quite a good number of producers, thanks to a larger total surface area and also because holdings tend to be small. Very little Côte-Rôtie is actually bad, and whenever you encounter a bottle it is usually worth trying, even if you've never heard of the producer or it is from some supermarket négociant. Some other good names that are particularly fun to stumble across are Burgaud, JM Stéphan (especially the natural Côte-Rôtie from Tupin), Champet, Bonnefond, and Vernay's Côte-Rôtie.
Buying, Drinking and Collecting Côte-Rôtie
If you have room for just a dozen Côte-Rôties in your cellar per vintage, I would try to get a few bottles of Jamet, maybe a bottle or two of a top wine like Clusel-Roch's Grandes Places or one of Rostaing's single-vineyards, and then fill out the case with good values from the likes of Barge, Xavier Gérard, or Bonnefond. If you have room for a second case, maybe pick a couple of favorites and go deep. I might do four bottles of Levet Chavaroche, four bottles of Barge Côte Brune, and four bottles from Stéphan's Coteaux de Tupin.
In lighter vintages, you can start drinking the wines designed for earlier drinking — Rostaing's Ampodium, Barge's Cuvée de Plessy, or Pierre-Jean Villa's Carmina — right away. From bigger vintages, drink the same wines anywhere from two to ten years out. Top wines need at least ten years as a rule, though some particularly forward vintages will start to show sooner.
Treat these wines as you would Burgundy. Get to know the different sites and the range of nuances that they produce.
Drink them with steak when they're young, roasted chicken at middle age, and elegant truffled meals when fully mature.
Recent Vintages
- 2019 — powerful, ripe, structured. A clear step up from 2018. Wait at least until the late 2020s for the top wines.
- 2020 — elegant, fine, with both red and black fruits and excellent purity. One of the great recent vintages.
- 2021 — cool, classical, slender, fresh. Wines are more peppery and restrained than the heat vintages on either side. Drink earlier.
- 2022 — heat and drought. Soft, velvety, generous Côte-Rôties; the AOC handled the conditions better than some of its neighbors.
- 2023 — Côte-Rôtie was the strongest performer of the Northern Rhône in this challenging vintage. Wines are surprisingly fresh, calm, balanced, hauntingly aromatic.
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2024 — the wettest year on record in the Rhône Valley. Lighter, aromatic reds for earlier drinking; whites are the strong story.
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Jeff Patten is one of the founders of Flatiron Wines. He has been buying and selling wine, and exploring wine country, for over 20 years, and drinking and collecting it for far longer. He is WSET certified (level 2).