2002 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie Cuvée Terroirs (Northern Rhône)A Rostaing CR for $15? Even an ’02 can’t be that bad, can it? Sure can. Decent aromatics of dark fruit and earth but the wine is just so thin, hollow, and acidic.
After that mess, I went for a favorite....
2001 Edmunds St. John Los Robles Viejos Rozet Vineyard (Paso Robles) Yummy. This is still showing quite young but it’s very very tasty. Beautifully elegant, smoky lavender aromatics then a soft parade of flavors unfold. Spicy dark fruit, a hint of earth and funk, then blackberry ending with peppery spice and well ripened tannic structure. Good now but definitely worth aging a few more years.
2001 Taurino Notarpanaro (Salento) Good stuff. A bit more structured and polished than the regular Salice Salentino but even still it’s quite rustic. Good depth of dark fruit flavor, some barnyard, strong tannins. This wine is very young and would benefit from a couple of years (maybe even more) of cellar time. Had to double decant and let sit for a couple of hours to get the aromatics to open up.