2018 Côte-Rôtie, La Turque, E. Guigal, Rhône

Smoke- and mineral-accented cherry and blackberry scents, along with powerful suggestions of exotic spices, incense and cracked pepper. Deep-pitched but also energetic on the palate, offering appealingly sweet dark berry, cherry liqueur and floral pastille flavors braced by a spine of juicy acidity. The floral note carries through an impressively long, penetrating finish that shows outstanding clarity and steadily mounting tannins.

The 2018 Côte Rôtie La Turque offers meatier, more savory, mineral-driven aromatics yet has an incredible core of pure cassis and darker fruits. A straight-up massive wine, it has a stacked mid-palate, terrific freshness, and again, a purity of fruit that’s just off the chart. Despite its overall size and richness, it’s weightless and as graceful as a ballerina. It always needs more time to come around compared to the La Mouline and generally starts to drink beautifully a decade after the vintage.