Each vintage, from Boutinot’s base in Cairanne, they are able to select exceptional Grenache and Syrah from the best Côtes du Rhône Villages to make Les Coteaux, which is then enriched with classified wine from Séguret and Sablet.
Common practice in the Côtes du Rhône is to bottle the best cuvées as a single, named, village wine and the rest as more basic Côtes du Rhône Villages. Boutinot’s philosophy, on the other hand, is to start with the intention of making the very best Côtes du Rhône Villages possible by sourcing wine from the vineyards of named villages, and enriching them with a small proportion of barrel-aged wine from Sablet and Séguret. Boutinot’s Côtes du Rhône Villages ‘Les Coteaux’ is therefore a selection of the best Grenache Noir and Syrah from some of the 17 named Côtes du Rhône Villages. They source wine from a number of growers with exceptional terroir and so have the flexibility to select only the very best fruit each vintage (rejecting parcels which do not meet our high standards). Mostly unoaked, a small proportion (15%) is part-aged for up to 20 months in a few new, but mostly older, oak barrels to bring depth and subtle notes of complexity.
Still rather young, the 2020 Les Coteaux is immediately impressive. This wine reveals its class from the start. Brambly fruit underpinned by subtle oaky nuances, lovely sweet spice – warm star anise with a touch of cinnamon. Well worth decanting if you can.