2017 Côte-Rôtie, La Belle Hélène, Domaine Michel & Stéphane Ogier, Rhône

Black cherry, dark meaty notes and a firm structure that coats the tongue with dust texture. It's quite hard at present.

Drink 2022 - 2037

Opaque violet. An intensely perfumed bouquet displays mineral-accented black/blue fruit and floral pastille scents that pick up olive, smoky bacon and exotic spice notes with air—in a concentrated yet energetic style, offering appealingly sweet, palate-coating cherry liqueur, blueberry, liquorice, spice cake and candied violet flavours braced by a spine of juicy acidity. Shows superb clarity and mineral thrust on a strikingly long, floral-accented finish shaped by fine-grained, slow-building tannins. This was the only 2017 that had yet to be bottled when I visited Ogier in mid-March.

This has intense aromas of violets, wet stones, graphite, licorice, roasted coffee, star anise, and a riot of ripe blackberries, black cherries, and plums. The palate is dense, rich, and concentrated, packed with dark fruit and swathed in spicy complexity. The tannins are formidable and will emerge in velvety form. It should be ready to drink around 2025 and will have a long window from there.

Belle Hélène is Ogier's only single-vineyard bottling, which was not named after its lieu-dit. It was first bottled by Stéphane's father and named after his mother. It's actually from Côte Rozier and is made from the oldest vines of the estate, 100% whole-bunch fermented and spending 24 months in barrel. This is very full-bodied, rich and velvety, with an extraordinary quality of tannins. It's saline, with an amazing mineral reach and breadth, finishing dry, savoury and exceptionally long. This demonstrates such finesse: it's a polished style but utterly compelling.

Drink 2027 - 2043

The 2017 Côte Rôtie La Belle Hélène is a big, ripe, powerful wine offering ample red and black fruits supported by notions of chocolaty oak, smoked game, and assorted baking spices. Ripe, sunny, full-bodied, and sexy, it has some firmer tannins but brings extravagant fruit and texture.