Rene Rostaing Cote-Rotie Cuvee Classique Ampodium 2016 375ml

René Rostaing is one of the great modern names in Côte-Rôtie. He started in 1971 with a small plot on the Côte Blonde, married into the Gerin family, and built an estate now run alongside his daughter Pauline and her husband Alex. Ampodium is the estate's village-level bottling, called Cuvée Classique before the 2009 vintage. It is a blend of about 13 plots from across the appellation and does not include the best holdings on La Landonne or the Côte Blonde, which are bottled separately. It is 100% Syrah, with at least 40% of the stems removed in the ferment and ageing in a mix of barrels, a modest share of them new. It is a classic, fresher style of Côte-Rôtie, and in years when the single-vineyard cuvées are not made, as in 2014, their fruit goes into Ampodium.

The result is elegant rather than powerful. The nose has red plum, black cherry, violets, peppercorn, bacon fat and earth, brightening with air into roses and red cherry. The palate is medium-bodied and lifted, with a savoury acid line and fine-grained tannins, and a smoky, olive-tinged finish.