With Hart, YZ, Sloke, Liz, Malone and PT at the charming Nicolas.

Oh. My. Gosh. What a stunner, and just edging out the Leoville Barton as the wine of the night for me. What a stunner.

In the glass: a bright ruby, medium body. very different from the cote rotie’s deep purple inkiness.

On the nose: yes here it is. A deep dense animalistic savory funk (but wait for it). A lot more blackcurrant here than blackberries. A waft of aromatic white pepper lift. I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but I smell… an almost Burgundian stemminess to it….. I don’t even know if it makes sense because I don’t know anything about Rhone winemaking. But this was complex, funnky, deep. But let me tell you, with enough air, this becomes STUNNING in the glass. That deep pleasurable funk blows out – it remains present, but recedes to the background just a little to let the spices and blackcurrant share the stage. THAT point in the wine was GLORIOUS.

On the palate: utterly stunning. It has so much intensity of fruit, and remains just supremely bright, juicy and energetic. Just this spark on the palate. Mid+ acidity. Mid body. Long finish.

This wine becomes outrageous with a ton of air. But I have to say, I enjoyed the journey of tasting it fresh from the bottle, and over the next hour+. But definitely have some patience – you’ll get rewarded with magic.