Tasting Note No.38
This was a whole new experience for me. I've never tasted anything from the French region of Gaillac before and I've certainly never tried a botrytis dessert wine made from the 'Loin de l'oeil' (Far from the eye) grape.
Never mind, it was fantastic, this stunning wine is now sold in Australia.
Domaine Rotier were established in 1985. Winemaker Alan Rotier is very talented, judging by this wine. Grapes were harvested from the 18 years old vines of only 4 hectares of the Loin de l'oeil variety. The wine spent 9 months in oak, 15% of the barrels were new. Only 13 thousand 500 ml bottles were made of the 2000 vintage.
Colour interesting golden bronze. Fantastic floral nose of honey nectar, exotic flowers and vanilla spice. The palate is thick and rich, very complex fruits and very exciting, forever evolving flavours in the glass. An absolutely sensational botrytis wine of unique character and style. I've not tried anything Australian like it. The rich sweetness is PERFECTLY balanced by the acidity on the finish. Lot's of power here, this 4 years old wine still has at least 10 years to go. Marvellous caramel, nectarine essence and baked fruit cake spices. The only thing for me that is similar and comes to mind, is a reductive style Tokaji from Hungary. This Gaillac wine is very impressive and well worth the AU $45.
Tasted:March 2004