Perfumed ripe raspberry fruit with herbal spice and oak nuances. A really intense palate showing ripe concentrated fruit. Lots of red berry fruits. Very long with beautiful balance. Very good. (Jon Osbeiston – Ultimo Wine Centre – 91+ points)
(casks) dark, quite bright robe; black fruit with a creamy side to it on the bouquet, and menthol-leather also. This nose is broader than many, and its harmony is pretty. This is a wine of heart – its black fruits are juicy and clear, even to the point of leaving a saline aftertaste, with oak around it that can infuse, say by 2011. There is a welcome ripple of muscle in this. Good poise on the palate and fruit quality here. 2020-22 (John Livingstone-Learmonth – Drink Rhone – 4 stars)
The 100% Syrah cuvee, the 2007 Cote Rotie Maison Rouge exhibits notes of burning embers, tapenade, jammy black cherries, licorice, and spice box. It is a full-bodied, lush, sexy 2007 that should drink compellingly well for 10-12 years.
Brothers David and Benjamin Duclaux have ratcheted up their game considerably as this has become one of the best of the small estate bottlers of Cote Rotie. Their cellars and vineyards are at the southern end of the appellation, in the sectors known as Coteaux de Tupin and Maison Rouge. Their winemaking style utilizes little new oak, but they believe in 100% destemming and the aging of the wines in 500-liter demi-muids, and occasionally smaller, used 228-liter casks. About 5% Viognier is co-fermented with Syrah for the La Germine, and their flagship wine, Maison Rouge, is 100% Syrah from the Cote Blonde. These are all exceptional wines, with the 2006s showing even better from bottle than they did from barrel. The 2007s are impressive efforts for this vintage. (Robert Parker – Wine Advocate #182 –90-93 points)