Rene Rostaing
Cote Blonde
Cote Rotie
2015

The producer

René Rostaing is widely regarded as one of the benchmark producers of Côte Rôtie, farming 7.5 hectares of old-vine Syrah across some of the appellation’s most revered terroirs. Established in 1971, the domaine is particularly renowned for its holdings in the legendary Côte Blonde, where lighter schist soils produce wines of striking perfume, finesse, and elegance. Alongside Côte Blonde, the estate also bottles celebrated single-vineyard cuvées from La Landonne, Côte Brune, and La Viallière. Since taking over in 2015 after training with Dominique Lafon in Meursault, René’s son Pierre Rostaing has brought a subtle Burgundian precision to the wines, enhancing their purity and refinement while remaining deeply faithful to the traditional character of Côte Rôtie.

The wine

The Côte Blonde is vinified with a traditional approach that preserves the purity and aromatic complexity of this celebrated terroir. Ageing takes place predominantly in large oak barrels and demi-muids, with restrained use of new oak to ensure the wine’s floral perfume, silky texture, and mineral precision remain at the forefront. Sourced from the lighter schist soils of Côte Blonde, the wine displays René Rostaing’s signature style — combining lifted aromatics, refined structure, and remarkable depth with effortless elegance.

The result is a Côte Rôtie of exceptional finesse and complexity, balancing vivid red and dark fruit, spice, and smoky nuances with the delicacy and power that define the finest wines of Côte Blonde.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.