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Vineyards
There are several southeasterly facing vineyards on the steep slopes of
the Côte Brune that are blended to produce Éric's Côte
Rôtie Vieilles Vignes. Most of the vineyards are terraced and planted
in a manner unique to Côte Rôtie - three vines trained on
a Guyot system of large stakes making a pyramid like structure called
cheys. The vineyards are all planted with 100% Syrah and average between
40 to 70 years old. With slopes of up to 55% the vineyard demands manual
work, which includes harvesting with small baskets that are carried by
hand up the steep vineyard slope to the road above where the trucks quickly
take them on to the winery.
Terroir
Located about 37 KM south of Lyon, Côte Rôtie is located on
the high hills above the Rhône River. The Rhône, over the
course of millions of years, cut a narrow valley through this region so
the sides of the valley are extremely steep with relatively flat tops.
The vineyards of Côte Rôtie are almost all terraced with the
distinct Roman terraces that snake horizontally (and sometimes vertically)
across the hillside.
The Côte Rôtie is divided into two primary regions: Côte
Blonde and Côte Brune. Local legend is that the names originate
from when Lord Maugiron bequeathed his land to each his two daughters.
The southern slope was given to his daughter with the golden blond hair
and the northern slope went to his other daughter with the dark brown
hair. Éric's Côte Rôtie Vieilles Vignes comes exclusively
from the Côte Brune where the soil is a combination of iron mica
schist (a metamorphosed shale), decomposed gneiss (a metamorphic banded
granite) and arzelle. Wines made from the Côte Brune are generally
thought to age much longer than those from Côte Blonde.
The southeasterly facing slopes are perfect for absorbing the maximum
daily sunlight and are generally protected from le mistral because of
a turn in the Rhône. Summers are hot and dry in the Northern Rhône,
while winters are cold though snow is rare.
History
Côte Rôtie, which translates to "roasted
slope", is an ancient wine region. It is not know when vines where
first cultivated but in 71 A.D. the area of Côte Rôtie was
referenced by Pliny the Elder in Book 14 of his Natural History. (The
full set was most recently translated by H. Rachman in his 1945 edition.)
Pliny discussed the wines of Vienne being grown on the steep, terraced
slopes of Côte Rôtie and being exported to lands as far away
as Rome and Britain. Vienne, merely 6 km north of Côte Rôtie,
has numerous Roman ruins including a still standing temple dedicated to
Livia and Augustus as well as an internationally known summer Jazz festival.
The combination of the late 1800s phylloxera epidemic, two world wars,
the great depression and extremely steep slopes that demand manual work caused the Côte Rôtie to steadily decline. In
the mid 1900s, it was easier and higher paying to grow other fruits on the steep slopes so by the early 1970's there were only 50 HA in production.
Thankfully the situation turned around with growing interest in fine wine and
a lucrative export market and today Côte Rôtie has over 205 HA
in production and many world wide devotees.
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